USE OF THE HEALTH UTILITIES INDEX WITH STROKE PATIENTS AND THEIR CAREGIVERS

Background and Purpose Few studies currently assess the health-related quality of life of individuals following a stroke. One of the major c hallenges of assessing quality of life is the high likelihood that aft er a stroke a patient will not be able to complete such an assessment. One practical solution is to have a family caregiver complete the ass essment on behalf of these individuals. This current pilot study exami ned the interrater reliability of having family caregivers complete th e Health Utilities Index (HUI) on behalf of stroke patients. Methods A total of 74 patients who experienced an ischemic stroke and 37 family caregivers completed the interviewer-administered HUI (data were avai lable for 33 pairs). The HUI is designed to produce a single summary m easure of health-related quality of life, the global multiattribute ut ility score, as well as descriptive information on each of its attribu tes. Interrater reliability was measured by evaluating the percent agr eement, Cohen's kappa statistics, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), Pearson's R correlations, and paired t tests between the patie nt and caregiver responses. Results In most instances interrater relia bility was acceptable, with values suggesting moderate to high agreeme nt. The mean global multiattribute utility scores for the HUI 2 were i dentical for patients and caregivers (0.64+/-0.29), with an ICC of .72 . A preponderance of patients reported decrements in several attribute s of the HUI. Conclusions These data indicate a substantial decrement in functioning in stroke patients and suggest that family caregivers c an complete the HUI reliably when patients are unable to do so.