Rosalind Rabin - Böcker

EQ-5D from the EuroQol Group is a standardised, non-disease-specific instrument for describing and valuing health. It is in widespread use in many countries and has been applied in many different settings. EQ-5D is now an integral feature of many clinical trials and is increasingly used in population health surveys. This book reports on the results of the European Union-funded EQ-net project which furthered the development of EQ-5D in the key areas of valuation, application, translation. The primary effort concentrated on harmonising and integrating the results of the various EuroQol valuation projects. Most importantly, the book includes a set of VAS-based preference weights for all the EQ-5D health states based on cross-European EQ-5D data. This book provides a comprehensive account to date of the Euro-Qol Group endeavour.

Science today makes progress through the imaginative harvesting of knowledge g- erated by the many, rather than as the result of the isolated endeavours of the lone researcher. Innovations in the physical sciences from the development of nuclear te- nologies to the laser, have involved research teams working collectively. Collabo- tion is the rule rather than the exception. In the social sciences this model is all but reversed. Here it is not uncommon to encounter the solitary enthusiast, relishing an independence of spirit and pursuing their own private research agenda. All the more surprising then that a group of researchers from several different disciplines, should have come together in the late 1980s with nothing more substantial on the agenda than that they share their thoughts on the topic of measuring the value of health, or more specifically, on the way that the value of health might vary across different countries. Few scientific enterprises can have begun as cautiously or uncertainly. Few can have developed a cohesion and dynamism that lasted decades and continues to drive ahead after long years of scientific endeavour. Such is the good fortune that befell those of us who came together to form what was later to be known as the Euro- Qol Group. The Group's creation is principally due to the shared professional asso- ation of its members with one man, an economist by training and a visionary academic by inclination and temperament - Alan Williams.

It will appeal to clinicians, nurses, health services researchers, health economists, those responsible for audit and quality assurance, public health specialists and managers in health care institutions, and the pharmaceutical industry.

The EuroQol Group is an international, cross-disciplinary group set up in 1987 to investigate issues related to the valuation of health. This book presents a series of papers from the early 1990s that illustrate many key aspects of the development of EQ-5D including: the descriptive system, self-rated health, valuation issues, health status scaling, modeling and valuation, semantic issues, reliability, and comparison with other instruments. The book provides a detailed insight into the analytical processes involved in the development of the EQ-5D as one of the foremost instruments for the measurement and valuation of health-related quality of life, and will be of particular interest to researchers in this area. It will also appeal to all those involved in outcome measurement - clinical personnel, health policy advisers and administrators, those involved in audit and quality assurance, health economists, and the pharmaceutical industry.