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EQ-5D-3L health status and health state utilities of the oldest-old (85 +) in Germany: results from the AgeCoDe-AgeQualiDe study

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Abstract

Purpose

To describe health status and health state utilities measured by the EQ-5D-3L in a population-based sample of individuals aged 85 + in Germany, and to analyze associations with basic socio-demographic variables.

Methods

Cross-sectional data from follow-up wave 7 (n = 761) of the German AgeCoDe Study were used. The EQ-5D-3L questionnaire was used to record problems in five health dimensions, its visual analogue scale (EQ VAS) was used to record self-rated health status, and the German EQ-5D-3L index was used to derive health state utilities.

Results

Mean age of respondents was 88.9 years (SD 2.9; range 85 to 100), 67.4% were female. 81.9% reported problems in at least one of the EQ-5D dimensions, with 15.3% reporting extreme problems. Most frequent were problems with pain/discomfort (64.8%), followed by mobility (62.5%), usual activities (42.6%), self-care (28.2%), and anxiety/depression (20.5%). Mean EQ VAS score was 62.4 (SD 18.8), and mean EQ-5D index was 0.77 (SD 0.24). Multiple regression analysis showed associations of problem frequency in various EQ-5D dimensions with age, gender, living situation, marital status, and education. The EQ VAS score was negatively associated with age (β =  − 0.56; p < 0.05) and female gender (β =  − 3.49; p < 0.05). The EQ-5D index was negatively associated with not living in the community (β =  − 0.10; p < 0.001) and being single (β =  − 0.09; p < 0.05).

Conclusions

The results show a substantially impaired health status of the oldest-old population. The data can be used for comparing health status of population groups as well as for health economic models.

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Acknowledgements

We want to thank both all participating patients and their general practitioners for their good collaboration. Members of the AgeCoDe & AgeQualiDe Study Group: Wolfgang Maier (Principal Investigator), Martin Scherer (Principal Investigator), Steffi G. Riedel-Heller (Principal Investigator), Heinz-Harald Abholz, Christian Brettschneider, Cadja Bachmann, Horst Bickel, Wolfgang Blank, Hendrik van den Bussche, Sandra Eifflaender-Gorfer, Marion Eisele, Annette Ernst, Angela Fuchs, André Hajek, Kathrin Heser, Frank Jessen, Hanna Kaduszkiewicz, Teresa Kaufeler, Mirjam Köhler, Hans-Helmut König, Alexander Koppara, Diana Lubisch, Tobias Luck, Dagmar Lühmann, Melanie Luppa, Tina Mallon, Manfred Mayer, Edelgard Mösch, Michael Pentzek, Jana Prokein, Alfredo Ramirez, Susanne Röhr, Anna Schumacher, Janine Stein, Susanne Steinmann, Franziska Tebarth, Hendrik van den Bussche (Principal Investigator 2002-2011), Carolin van der Leeden, Michael Wagner, Klaus Weckbecker, Dagmar Weeg, Jochen Werle, Siegfried Weyerer, Birgitt Wiese, Steffen Wolfsgruber, Thomas Zimmermann.

Funding

This publication is part of the German Research Network on Dementia (KND), the German Research Network on Degenerative Dementia (KNDD; German Study on Ageing, Cognition and Dementia in Primary Care Patients; AgeCoDe), and the Health Service Research Initiative (Study on Needs, health service use, costs and health-related quality of life in a large sample of oldest-old primary care patients (85 + ; AgeQualiDe)) and was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Grants KND: 01GI0102, 01GI0420, 01GI0422, 01GI0423, 01GI0429, 01GI0431, 01GI0433, 01GI0434; grants KNDD: 01GI0710, 01GI0711, 01GI0712, 01GI0713, 01GI0714, 01GI0715, 01GI0716; Grants Health Service Research Initiative: 01GY1322A, 01GY1322B, 01GY1322C, 01GY1322D, 01GY1322E, 01GY1322F, 01GY1322G). The publication was also supported by the study “Healthy Aging: Gender specific trajectories into latest life” (AgeDifferent.De) that was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Grant Nos. 01GL1714A; 01GL1714B; 01GL1714C; 01GL1714D).

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Author notes

  1. Steffi G. Riedel-Heller and André Hajek are Equal contributors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Economics and Health Services Research, Hamburg Center for Health Economics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

    Hans-Helmut König, Christian Brettschneider & André Hajek

  2. Department of Primary Medical Care, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

    Dagmar Lühmann & Martin Scherer

  3. Institute of General Practice, Medical Faculty, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany

    Hanna Kaduszkiewicz

  4. Institute of General Practice, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

    Anke Oey & Birgitt Wiese

  5. Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany

    Jochen Werle & Siegfried Weyerer

  6. Institute of General Practice, Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Angela Fuchs & Michael Pentzek

  7. Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

    Ines Conrad, Susanne Röhr & Steffi G. Riedel-Heller

  8. Department of Psychiatry, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Dagmar Weeg & Horst Bickel

  9. Department for Neurodegenerative Diseases and Geriatric Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Kathrin Heser, Michael Wagner & Wolfgang Maier

  10. German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany

    Wolfgang Maier

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  1. Hans-Helmut König
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Correspondence to Hans-Helmut König.

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Conflict of interests

All authors declare that they have no potential conflicts of interest.

Ethics approval

The AgeCoDe and the AgeQualiDe study have been approved by the ethics committees of all participating study centers (Approval Numbers: Hamburg: OB/08/02, 2817/2007, MC-390/13; Bonn: 050/02; 174/02, 258/07, 369/13; Mannheim: 0226.4/2002, 2007-253E-MA, 2013-662N-MA; Leipzig: 143/2002, 309/2007, 333-1318112013; Düsseldorf: 2079/2002, 2999/2008, 2999; Munich: 713/02, 713/02 E) and comply with the ethical standards of the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975, as revised in 1983.

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König, HH., Brettschneider, C., Lühmann, D. et al. EQ-5D-3L health status and health state utilities of the oldest-old (85 +) in Germany: results from the AgeCoDe-AgeQualiDe study. Qual Life Res 29, 3223–3232 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-020-02597-0

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