LAUSR

Background: Quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) is the recommended health outcome measure in economic evaluations. QALY-weights combines health status and time into one measure. Aims: To investigate QALY-weights among subjects with and without asthma derived from a random population sample. Methods: Within the OLIN-studies in northern Sweden, a randomly selected sample was invited to participate in a postal questionnaire survey. Of those who responded, a random sample of 1016 subjects was invited to clinical examinations and interviews in 2009, and 737 subjects in ages 21-86 years participated. Of these, 605 completed the health-related quality of life (HRQL) questionnaire SF-36. QALY-weights were derived from the SF-36 data using the SF-6D tool via the standard gamble method. The SF-6D scores are equivalent to QALY-weights with low values representing poor health and the score one represents perfect health. Results: Of 605 participants, 74 subjects had current asthma. The mean QALY-weight was lower among subjects with asthma compared to subjects without asthma, 0.77 and 0.82 QALYs, respectively, (p Conclusions: Both men and women with asthma had lower QALY-weights compared to those without asthma.