VAS(Visual Analogue Scale), TTO(Time Trade-Off), EQ-5D(EuroQol-5)

Measuring Utility Weights with VAS, TTP and EQ-5D for Severe Stomach Cancer

Stomach cancer shows the hightset incidence among cancer patients in Korea and it deteriorates the patients' health-related quality of life considerably. This study measured utility weights of severe stomach cancer symptoms using VAS(Visual Analogue Scale), TTO(Time Trade-Off), EQ-5D(EuroQol-5 Dimension) methods. A survey questionnaire was developed to describe the symptoms of severe stomach cancer comprehensively and concisely using VAS, TTO and EQ-5D. A face-to-face interview was conducted for 21 cancer inpatients in a hospital and 25 non-patients. The mean utility weight is 0.498 for VAS, 0.375 for EQ-5D and 0.300 for TTO. Using VAS or TTO methods, there were no statistically significant differences between patients and non-patients while there was significant difference in EQ-5D. The utility weight with VAS and EQ-5D has shown similar trend-higher score in patient group, male and aged while it has opposite trend with TTO.