Multiattribute utility function for a comprehensive health status classification system. Health Utilities Index Mark 2

Med Care. 1996 Jul;34(7):702-22. doi: 10.1097/00005650-199607000-00004.

Abstract

The Health Utilities Index Mark 2 (HUI:2) is a generic multiattribute, preference-based system for assessing health-related quality of life. Health Utilities Index Mark 2 consists of two components: a seven-attribute health status classification system and a scoring formula. The seven attributes are sensation, mobility, emotion, cognition, self-care, pain, and fertility. A random sample of general population parents were interviewed to determine cardinal preferences for the health states in the system. The health states were defined as lasting for a 60-year lifetime, starting at age 10. Values were measured using visual analogue scaling. Utilities were measured using a standard gamble technique. A scoring formula is provided, based on a multiplicative multiattribute utility function from the responses of 194 subjects. The utility scores are death-anchored (death = 0.0) and form an interval scale. Health Utilities Index Mark 2 and its utility scores can be useful to other researchers in a wide variety of settings who wish to document health status and assign preference scores.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Child
  • Female
  • Health Services Research / methods
  • Health Status Indicators*
  • Health Status*
  • Humans
  • Interviews as Topic
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Models, Statistical
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Ontario / epidemiology
  • Outcome Assessment, Health Care / classification*
  • Outcome Assessment, Health Care / statistics & numerical data
  • Quality-Adjusted Life Years*
  • Risk Assessment