The psychometric properties of the amharic version of EuroQoL five-dimensions-five level among Ethiopian cervical cancer patients.

Background: Despite being a widely used generic measure of health-related quality of life worldwide, there is limited evidence on the psychometric properties of the EuroQoL Five-dimensions five level (EQ-5D) among cervical cancer patients in Ethiopia.
Objective: To evaluate psychometric properties of the Amharic version of EQ-5D among Ethiopian cervical cancer patients.
Methods: A longitudinal survey of cervical cancer patients receiving treatment at two Ethiopian tertiary care facilities was conducted from March 2022 to July 2023. Participants completed the EQ-5D and the European Organization for Research and Therapy of Cancer (EORTC QLQ-C30) at baseline and after three months on treatment. Effect size and standardized response mean were used to assess responsiveness. Anchor-based and distribution-based methods were used to calculate the minimal clinically important difference (MCID). Minimal detectable change (MDC) ratios were computed at the individual and group levels. Statistical significance was determined at p < 0.05.
Results: Three hundred seventy-one patients completed the survey at baseline and follow-up with a mean age of 49.72 (10.80) years. The majority (268,73%) of the patients had early-stage cancer. The EQ-5D index and EQ VAS scores respectively improved by 0.04 and 7.0 post-treatment.The physical domains of EORTC QLQ-C30 had showed high correlation with physical dimensions of EQ-5D (r > 0.6) and the instrument showed good discriminate validity between patients with different health states. The effect size ranged between - 0.12 and 0.60 for the EQ-5D index value and - 0.12 to 1.16 for the EQ VAS, indicating small to large responsiveness. The average (range) MCID value of the EQ-5D index was 0.10-0.15. The findings showed that MCID to MDC ratios at the group level were more clinically meaningful than the individual level.
Conclusion: The EQ-5D effectively detected changes and discriminate patients with different levels of health. While group-level MCIDs were established in this study, further studies are recommended to prove its usefulness at the individual-level.
Competing Interests: Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Review Board of the School of Pharmacy, Addis Ababa University (Ref. No.: ERB/SOP/405/14/2022) and permission was received from the study hospital. Written informed consent was obtained from patients. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Consent for publication Not applicable. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)