Capturing Valuation Study Sampling Uncertainty in the Estimation of Health State Utility Values Using the EQ-5D-3L

Guidelines for health technology assessments typically require that uncertainty be accounted for in economic evaluations, but the parameter uncertainty of the regression model used in the valuation study of the health instrument is often tacitly ignored. This study considered UK valuation study of the EQ-5D-3L and constructed a Bayesian model that accounts for layers of uncertainty that would otherwise be disregarded, and derived closed-form utility distributions. The derived tariff can be used by researchers in economic evaluations, as it allows analysts to directly sample a utility value from its corresponding distribution, which reflects the associated uncertainty of the utility score.