Interim EQ-5D-5L Value Set for Poland: First Crosswalk Value Set in Central and Eastern Europe

Objective: To estimate an interim five-level EuroQol five-dimensional (EQ-5D-5L) value set for Poland on the basis of the crosswalk methodology developed by the EuroQol Group. Methods: On the basis of data from 3691 respondents from six European countries, the EuroQol Group has developed a method of obtaining interim value sets for the EQ-5D-5L by means of mapping to the available three-level EuroQol five-dimensional (EQ-5D-3L) value sets (“crosswalk” methodology). A significant part of the data in this study came from Polish respondents (n 1⁄4 972; 26.3%). Poland is the first Central European country with EQ-5D-3L time trade-off–based social value set published. To obtain an interim EQ-5D-5L value set, we applied the crosswalk methodology to the Polish EQ-5D-3L value set. Results: Estimated Polish values for 3125 EQ-5D-5L health states are presented. Both EQ-5D-5L and EQ-5D-3L value sets have the same range (from 0.523 to 1.000), but different means (0.448 vs. 0.380) and medians (0.483 vs. 0.403), respectively. Proportionately fewer states worse than dead were observed in the EQ-5D-5L (5.4%) value set than in the EQ5D-3L (13.2%) value set. Conclusions: The crosswalk-based value set is available for use in EQ-5D-5L studies in Poland to calculate health state utilities. It should be considered an interim value set until values based on preferences elicited directly from a sample representative of the Polish general population become available. This study helps users of the crosswalk algorithm understand the properties of the EQ-5D-5L values generated using this method, in comparison to EQ-5D-3L values obtained with the Polish time trade-off value set. It is likely that similar results would be observed for values sets in other countries because the same crosswalk methodology applies across all countries.