Development of a new preference-based instrument to measure dependency

This paper reports the estimation of a preference-based scoring algorithm for a new dependency health state classification system. According to this system health states are described as a combination of 6 attributes (eat, incontinence, personal care, mobility, housework and cognition/mental problems), with 3 or 4 levels each. The tariff of this instrument is based on community preferences, hence it is consistent with the so-called ‘societal perspective’. Preference weights can be used in QALY calculations and cost-utility analysis.