background one common challenge to social systems is achieving equity in financial contributions and preventing financial loss. because of the large and unpredictable nature of some costs, achieving this goal in the health system presents important and unique problems. the present study investigated the household financial contributions (hfcs) to the health system.   methods the study investiga...

OBJECTIVES Although the broad impacts of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are increasingly recognized, little work has focused on the overall health-related quality of life experienced by Alzheimer's disease patients and their caregivers. The study had two main objectives: (1) to test the feasibility of measuring health utilities in Alzheimer's disease with a generic preference-weighted instrument usin...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The aim was to derive health state utility scores in ulcerative colitis (UC) by establishing the relationship between the physician-rated ulcerative colitis disease activity index (UCDAI) and a patient reported EQ-5D by statistically mapping the two instruments. METHODS In a randomised controlled trial comparing oral plus enema mesalazine treatment with oral mesalazine tre...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Health utility value (HUV) is an index used to measure health-related quality of life for the valuation and comparison of treatments. The Euroqol 5-Dimension (EQ-5D) questionnaire is a widely used method for determining HUV, but it has not been applied for this purpose in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) who undergo sinus surgery. STUDY DESIGN Prospective cohor...

background and aims: air pollution is one of the health problems worldwide. previous epidemiological studies have investigated the impacts of air pollution on respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. the aim of this study was to determine the associations between air pollution levels and different health indicators among world countries. methods: this ecological study was performed in 2013 by u...

OBJECTIVE Health related quality of life (HRQL) of children using medical technology at home is largely unknown. Our aim was to examine the HRQL in children on long-term ventilation at home (LTHV) in comparison to a cohort using an enterostomy tube. STUDY DESIGN Participants were divided into three groups: 1) LTHV without an enterostomy tube (LTHV cohort); 2) Enterostomy tube (GT cohort); 3) ...

OBJECTIVES To characterize the differences in utility scores (dUTY) among four commonly used preference-based Health-Related Quality of Life instruments, to evaluate the potential impact of these differences on cost-utility analyses (CUA), and to determine if sociodemographic/clinical factors influenced the magnitude of these differences. METHODS Consenting adult Chinese, Malay and Indian sub...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Generic utility health-related quality of life instruments are useful in assessing stroke outcome because they facilitate a broader description of the disease and outcomes, allow comparisons between diseases, and can be used in cost-benefit analysis. The aim of this study was to validate the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL) instrument in a stroke population. METHODS...