Health utility measurement by time trade-off method in Hungary

Abstract

Introduction: Time trade-off (TTO) is a widely used method to assess health-related quality of life and health utilities for economic evaluations of health technologies. Little is known about the use of TTO in the Hungarian context. Objective: To systematically summarize the existing literature on the method in Hungary. Method: In January 2020, we conducted a systematic literature search in three electronic databases (MEDLINE, Web of Science and the Hungarian Periodicals Table of Contents Database). Our inclusion criteria were: (1) original publications, which (2) measured utilities by using TTO, (3) from a Hungarian sample. Results: Nine publications containing seven original studies were included that reported utilities for 23 different health states in seven chronic diseases (age-related macular degeneration, chronic migraine, Crohn's disease, pemphigus, primary dysmenorrhoea, psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis). Sample sizes ranged from 108 to 1996 respondents. Two studies used general population samples, another two used patient groups and three studies used both. Six studies used a form of conventional TTO and one used composite TTO method. The most frequent timeframe was 10 years (71%). The lowest mean utility was 0.34 (uncontrolled pemphigus vulgaris), while the highest was 0.94 (mild primary dysmenorrhoea). The overall proportion of non-traders ranged between 0 and 29% across studies. Conclusions: A growing number of studies are using TTO to assess utilities for chronic conditions from the general population or patients in Hungary. The majority of Hungarian TTO studies have met international quality standards. The assessment of TTO utilities is recommended also in other chronic conditions to assist health technology assessment.