Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is used as a measure to valuate healthcare
interventions and guide policy making. The EuroQol EQ-5D is a widely used generic preferencebased
instrument to measure Health-related quality of life.
Objectives: The objective of this study was to develop a value set of the EQ-5D health states for
an Iranian population.
Methods: This study is the cross-sectional study of Iranian populations. Our sample from Iranian
populations consists out of 869 participants which are selected for this study using a stratified
probability sampling method. The sample was taken from individuals living in the city of
Tehran and was stratified by age and gender from July to November 2013. Respondents valued
13 health states using the visual analogue scale (VAS) of EQ-5D. Several fix effects regression
models were tested to predict the full set of health states. We selected the final model based on
the logical consistency of the estimates, sign and magnitude of the regression coefficients,
goodness of fit, and parsimony. We also compared predicted values with a value set from similar
studies in the UK and other countries.
Results: Our results show that the Health-related quality of life does not vary among socioeconomic
groups. Models at the individual level resulted in an additive model with all
coefficients statistically significant, R2 = 0.55, value of 0.75 for the best health state (11112) and
value of -0.074 for the worst health state (33333). The value set obtained for study sample
remarkably differs from those elicited in developed countries.
Conclusion: This study is the first estimate for EQ-5D value set based on VAS in Iran. Given
the importance of locally adapted value set the use of this value set can be recommended for
future studies in Iran and in the regions.