EQ-5D
A brief, generic health-related quality-of-life instrument applicable across conditions.
By Claire White
- Self-administered; approximately 5 minutes.
- Five dimensions: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, anxiety/depression.
- Each dimension rated at 1 (no problem) to 5 (extreme problem) in the EQ-5D-5L.
- An EQ Visual Analogue Scale (EQ VAS) rates overall health 0 to 100.
- Reference information. It does not diagnose.
What it measures
The EQ-5D describes health across five dimensions: mobility (walking), self-care, usual activities, pain or discomfort, and anxiety or depression. In the 5L version, each dimension has five levels of severity from no problem to extreme problem. The 5-digit profile (e.g. 11111 = full health) can be converted to a utility index (0–1) using country-specific value sets. The EQ VAS asks the person to rate their health today on a scale of 0 to 100.
What the result tells you
The utility index (0–1, where 1 = full health and 0 = states equivalent to death) is used in health economic evaluations to calculate quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). The EQ VAS provides a self-rated overall health score. The EQ-5D is used across neurological and other conditions as a generic comparison measure and health economics instrument.
Evidence, psychometrics and provenance
Psychometrics
- Test-retest reliability (EQ VAS)
- ICC ≈ 0.86
- Responsive to change
- Moderate; condition-specific scales often more sensitive