Patient preferences for heart failure treatment: Utilities are valid measures of health-related quality of life in heart failure

Background: Current standards hold that cost-effectiveness analyses should incorporate measures of both quantity and quality of life, and that quality of life in this context is best measured by a utility. We sought to measur e utility scores for patients with heart failure and to assess their validi ty as measures of health-related quality of life (HRQL). Methods and Results: We studied 50 patients with heart failure. We measured utilities with the time trade-off technique, exercise capacity with a 6-mi nute walk test, and HRQL with the Minnesota Living With Heart Failure quest ionnaire, the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire, a nd a visual analogue score. Validity was assessed by establishing correlati on between utilities and these other measures. Mean utility score was 0.77 +/- 0.28. There were significant (P < .05) curvilinear relationships betwee n utility score and visual analogue score, the physical function summary sc ale of the SF-36, 6-minute walk distance, and the Living With Heart Failure score. Utility scores on retest at 1 week were unchanged in a subset of 12 patients. Utilities did not vary systematically with age, sex, or ethnicit y. Conclusion: Utilities are valid measures of HRQL in patients with heart fai lure, and cost-effectiveness analyses of heart failure treatments incorpora ting utilities in the outcome measure can be meaningful.