Skip to main content
. 2023 Jan 24;23:167. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-15075-2

Table 2.

Health utility values stratified by characteristics of respondents, 2008–2020

Characteristics Mean health utility values a (SD) ES b (95% CI) p value*
2008 (N = 25,939) 2013 (N = 22,138) 2020 (N = 19,177)
Total 0.948 (0.102) 0.942 (0.103) 0.939 (0.168) 0.070 (0.051, 0.089) < 0.001
Gender
 Male 0.950 (0.102) 0.946 (0.097) 0.944 (0.167) 0.046 (0.020, 0.073) < 0.001
 Female 0.946 (0.101) 0.939 (0.108) 0.933 (0.169) 0.093 (0.067, 0.120) < 0.001
Ethnic group
 Han Chinese 0.948 (0.101) 0.942 (0.103) 0.939 (0.168) 0.070 (0.051, 0.089) < 0.001
 Others 0.939 (0.116) 0.937 (0.100) 0.930 (0.168) 0.068 (−0.074, 0.210) < 0.001
Age group (years)
 18–29 0.972 (0.026) 0.971 (0.031) 0.994 (0.067) 0.483 (0.422, 0.544) < 0.001
 30–39 0.971 (0.029) 0.968 (0.044) 0.993 (0.050) 0.535 (0.479, 0.592) < 0.001
 40–49 0.967 (0.046) 0.963 (0.051) 0.984 (0.078) 0.335 (0.282, 0.388) < 0.001
 50–59 0.959 (0.065) 0.953 (0.073) 0.959 (0.129) 0.057 (0.014, 0.100) < 0.001
 60–69 0.938 (0.117) 0.935 (0.106) 0.934 (0.161) 0.027 (−0.014, 0.068) < 0.001
  ≥ 70 0.867 (0.201) 0.866 (0.189) 0.834 (0.267) 0.140 (0.093, 0.186) < 0.001
Commercial medical insurance
 Yes 0.967 (0.043) 0.958 (0.061) 0.972 (0.108) 0.143 (0.066, 0.221) < 0.001
 No 0.947 (0.103) 0.942 (0.104) 0.935 (0.173) 0.089 (0.069, 0.108) < 0.001
Recipients of medical assistance
 Yes 0.894 (0.154) 0.869 (0.181) 0.819 (0.317) 0.290 (0.140, 0.441) < 0.001
 No 0.949 (0.101) 0.943 (0.102) 0.941 (0.162) 0.058 (0.039, 0.077) < 0.001
Marital status
 Unmarried 0.967 (0.052) 0.961 (0.069) 0.975 (0.119) 0.146 (0.084, 0.209) < 0.001
 Married 0.952 (0.094) 0.946 (0.095) 0.943 (0.160) 0.070 (0.049, 0.091) < 0.001
 Widowed 0.878 (0.188) 0.877 (0.180) 0.835 (0.264) 0.195 (0.124, 0.265) < 0.001
 Divorced 0.962 (0.041) 0.950 (0.070) 0.959 (0.138) 0.200 (0.032, 0.368) < 0.001
Education
 Primary or below 0.922 (0.147) 0.912 (0.146) 0.880 (0.233) 0.224 (0.187, 0.262) < 0.001
 Junior high school 0.959 (0.075) 0.951 (0.086) 0.948 (0.150) 0.097 (0.067, 0.127) < 0.001
 Senior high school 0.960 (0.072) 0.950 (0.084) 0.954 (0.140) 0.053 (0.012, 0.094) < 0.001
 College or above 0.964 (0.056) 0.958 (0.066) 0.977 (0.103) 0.222 (0.175, 0.269) < 0.001
Employment status
 Employed 0.968 (0.041) 0.964 (0.048) 0.987 (0.069) 0.392 (0.362, 0.422) < 0.001
 Retired 0.921 (0.146) 0.917 (0.136) 0.918 (0.184) 0.029 (−0.006, 0.065) < 0.001
 Student 0.972 (0.023) 0.971 (0.027) 0.988 (0.075) 0.311 (0.182, 0.440) < 0.001
 Unemployed 0.932 (0.129) 0.925 (0.127) 0.897 (0.220) 0.197 (0.161, 0.233) < 0.001
Hypertension
 Yes 0.902 (0.163) 0.909 (0.142) 0.894 (0.216) 0.078 (0.043, 0.114) < 0.001
 No 0.959 (0.079) 0.954 (0.083) 0.963 (0.128) 0.094 (0.071, 0.118) < 0.001
Diabetes
 Yes 0.889 (0.180) 0.894 (0.163) 0.885 (0.224) 0.047 (−0.013, 0.107) < 0.001
 No 0.951 (0.096) 0.947 (0.095) 0.947 (0.156) 0.029 (0.009, 0.049) < 0.001
Other chronic diseases
 Yes 0.869 (0.194) 0.862 (0.183) 0.810 (0.289) 0.270 (0.202, 0.337) < 0.001
 No 0.963 (0.064) 0.952 (0.084) 0.947 (0.154) 0.140 (0.120, 0.160) < 0.001
Number of illnesses in 2 weeks
 0 0.951 (0.096) 0.950 (0.087) 0.944 (0.160) 0.052 (0.033, 0.072) < 0.001
 1 0.905 (0.165) 0.868 (0.186) 0.891 (0.217) 0.211 (0.131, 0.292) < 0.001
 2 or more 0.894 (0.165) 0.829 (0.205) 0.837 (0.284) 0.365 (0.202, 0.528) < 0.001
Hospitalizations in 12 months
 Yes 0.857 (0.223) 0.871 (0.188) 0.803 (0.304) 0.207 (0.116, 0.299) < 0.001
 No 0.953 (0.089) 0.946 (0.095) 0.944 (0.158) 0.016 (−0.004, 0.036) 0.015

* Significant changes in health utility values (p < 0.05) were found from 2008 to 2020 in all independent variables by Kruskal-Wallis H tests

a The EQ-5D-3L responses were mapped to EQ-5D-5L responses by the UK response mapping algorithm [28] and then converted to utility values for the mapped responses using the excepted-utility method [29]

b Effect sizes were calculated as the difference between the mean utility of two groups divided by the pooled standard deviation and effect sizes of 0.8 are defined as large, 0.5 to 0.79 as moderate, and 0.2 to 0.49 as small

Abbreviation: 95% CI, 95% confidence interval; ES, effect sizes, SD, standard deviation