Health utility of Chinese patients with chronic kidney disease and its associated factors: a study based on EQ-5D-5L

This study aimed to evaluate EQ-5D-5L health utility and its associated factors among patients with chronic kidney disease recruited from a tertiary hospital in China across different disease stages. CKD patients were enrolled in this cross-sectional study from May 2022 to December 2023. Quota sampling was used to conduct the survey including a two-part questionnaire (an information-collecting questionnaire and the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire) in a large tertiary hospital in southwest China. Health utility scores were calculated using the Chinese value set. EQ-5D-5L and EQ-VAS scores were calculated by key variables. Wilcoxon rank sum test and Kruskal-Wallis H-test were used for assessing differences by subgroup, and potential factors associated with EQ-5D-5L utility scores were identified using Tobit regression. Of 726 recruited patients, 57 were excluded because of missing information, and 669 patients were included in the analysis. Among the EQ-5D-5L dimensions, anxiety/depression had the highest proportion of reported problems. The mean age of the patients was 47.28 years, and 53.36% were male. The mean EQ-5D-5L health utility value was 0.856. The mean health utility values of patients in stage G1, G2, G3, G4, G5 (no dialysis) and G5 (dialysis) were 0.930, 0.873, 0.823, 0.814, 0.816 and 0.851. Factors significantly associated with EQ-5D-5L scores included age, education, economic status, disease stage, hemodialysis, medical insurance type, physical activity, adherence to CKD diet and family accompaniment during illness. This study provided the health utility values in a hospital-based sample of patients with CKD across different stages using EQ-5D-5L and identified the potential factors associated with the scores. These findings may inform future research or contextual economic analyses.