EQ-5D-Y Proxy Version 1 (Proxy Opinion of Child HRQoL) EQ-5D-Y Proxy Version 2 (Proxy Opinion of Child HRQoL as child would report)

Generic measure

Measure domains: 5 Dimensions: mobility, self-care, usual activity, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression, plus a Visual Analog Score (VAS) of overall health on a scale of 0-100.

Summary of development:  The EuroQol Research Foundation is responsible for the development of the adult measure, the EQ-5D. The EQ-5D measure is widely used to measure adult HRQoL, and the EQ-5D-Y was developed from the adult measure. The version for youth was adapted by reviewing literature on previous measures, the assistance of pediatric specialists, and qualitative interviews.

The EQ-5D-Y consists of 2 pages: the EQ-5D (EuroQoL 5 dimension) descriptive system and the EQ visual analogue scale (EQ VAS). EQ-5D-Y is designed for self-completion by children and adolescents aged 8-15 years. Proxy versions, for completion by a caregiver or someone who knows the person well, are also available.  In Version 1, proxies are asked to evaluate the child’s health state according to their own opinion; in Version 2, proxies are asked to evaluate their child’s health according to what they believe the child’s own opinion would be.

The EQ-5D-Y-3L and the EQ-5D-Y-5L have the same dimensions and questions, but the 3L version has 3 levels of responses (no problems; some problems; a lot of problems); the 5L version has 5 levels of responses (no problems, slight problems, moderate problems, severe problems, unable to/extreme problems) designed to be more sensitive to health states. The 5L version was developed to reduce the ceiling effects of the 3L measure (Kreimeier 2019).

It is important to note that health utility scales that are made in the econometric tradition, such as the EQ5D, do not necessarily need psychometric testing such as internal consistency or structural validity.  For these measures, other types of validity such as known groups validity and convergent validity may be useful.  The EQ-5D-Y is available and evaluated in many languages; here we only include studies with English speaking participants.

Three versions: EQ-5D-Y-3L (3 levels), EQ-5D-Y-5L (5 levels), EQ-5D-Y Proxy Version 1 (Proxy Opinion of Child HRQoL) and EQ-5D-Y Proxy Version 2 (Proxy Opinion of Child HRQoL as child would report)