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HEALTH UTILITIES INC

Multi-Attribute Health Status Classification System:
Health Utilities Index Mark 2 (HUI2)
 

Attribute Level Description
SENSATION 1 Able to see, hear, and speak normally for age.
2 Requires equipment to see or hear or speak.
3 Sees, hears, or speaks with limitations even with equipment.
4 Blind, deaf, or mute.
       
MOBILITY 1 Able to walk, bend, lift, jump, and run normally for age.
2 Walks, bends, lifts, jumps, or runs with some limitations but does not require help.
3 Requires mechanical equipment (such as canes, crutches, braces, or wheelchair) to walk or get around independently.
4 Requires the help of another person to walk or get around and requires mechanical equipment as well.
5 Unable to control or use arms and legs.
       
EMOTION 1 Generally happy and free from worry.
2 Occasionally fretful, angry, irritable, anxious, depressed, or suffering "night terrors".
3 Often fretful, angry, irritable, anxious, depressed, or suffering "night terrors".
4 Almost always fretful, angry, irritable, anxious, depressed.
5 Extremely fretful, angry, irritable, anxious, or depressed usually requiring hospitalization or psychiatric institutional care.
       
COGNITIVE 1 Learns and remembers school work normally for age.
2 Learns and remembers school work more slowly than classmates as judged by parents and/or teachers.
3 Learns and remembers very slowly and usually requires special educational assistance.
4 Unable to learn and remember.
       
SELF-CARE 1 Eats, bathes, dresses, and uses the toilet normally for age
2 Eats, bathes, dresses, or uses the toilet independently with difficulty.
3 Requires mechanical equipment to eat, bathe, dress, or use the toilet independently.
4 Requires the help of another person to eat, bathe, dress, or use the toilet.
       
PAIN 1 Free of pain and discomfort.
2 Occasional pain. Discomfort relieved by non-prescription drugs or self-control activity without disruption of normal activities.
3 Frequent pain. Discomfort relieved by oral medicines with occasional disruption of normal activities.
4 Frequent pain; frequent disruption of normal activities. Discomfort requires prescription narcotics for relief.
5 Severe pain. Pain not relieved by drugs and constantly disrupts normal activities.
       
FERTILITY 1 Able to have children with a fertile spouse.
2 Difficulty in having children with a fertile spouse.
3 Unable to have children with a fertile spouse.
       
  NOTE:  The HUI Mark 2 (HUI2) Classification System
                 is NOT the HUI questionnaire.
                 Answers to HUI questionnaires enable researchers
                 to map responses to specific levels within the
                 classification system using decision tables and
                 coding algorithms provided in the HUI2/3 Manual.
                 Manuals are licensed along with questionnaires
                 for both Self-complete and Interviewer-administered
                 applications.
                 Please navigate to "Questionnaires" for more details.

The above level descriptions are worded here
                 exactly as they were presented to interview
                 subjects in the HUI2 preference survey.

  For a pdf-formatted version of the HUI2 and HUI3 Classification Systems click here.

HUI2 Single-Attribute Utility Functions*

Level
Sensation
Mobility
Emotion
Cognition
Self-Care
Pain
Fertility
1
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
2
0.87
0.92
0.86
0.86
0.85
0.95
0.75
3
0.65
0.61
0.60
0.66
0.55
0.75
0.00
4
0.00
0.34
0.37
0.00
0.00
0.42
 
5
 
0.00
0.00
   
0.00
 
*Torrance et al. Medical Care 1996, Table 7, page 715.

HUI2 Multi-Attribute Utility Function*
on Dead-Healthy Scale

Sensation
x1   b1
Mobility
x2   b2
Emotion
x3   b3
Cognition
x4   b4
Self-Care
x5   b5
Pain
x6   b6
Fertility
x7   b7
1   1.00
1   1.00
1   1.00
1   1.00
1   1.00
1   1.00
1   1.00
2   0.95
2   0.97
2   0.93
2   0.95
2   0.97
2   0.97
2   0.97
3   0.86
3   0.84
3   0.81
3   0.88
3   0.91
3   0.85
3   0.88
4   0.61
4   0.73
4   0.70
4   0.65
4   0.80
4   0.64
 
 
5   0.58
5   0.53
   
5   0.38
 
*Torrance et al. Medical Care 1996, Table 8, page 716.
Where xn is the attribute level and bn is the attribute utility score
Formula (Dead - Perfect Health scale)    u* = 1.06 (b1 * b2 * b3 * b4 * b5 * b6 * b7) - 0.06
where u* is the utility of a chronic health state on a utility scale where dead has a utility of 0.00 and healthy has a utility of 1.00. Because the worst possible health state was judged by respondents as worse than death, it has a negative utility of -0.03. The standard error of u* is 0.015 for measurement error and sampling error, and 0.06 if model error is also included.
Sources
Feeny, David, William Furlong, Michael Boyle, and George W. Torrance, "Multi-Attribute Health Status Classification Systems:  Health Utilities Index." PharmacoEconomics, Vol 7, No 6, June, 1995, pp 490-502.

Feeny, David H., George W. Torrance, and William J. Furlong, "Health Utilities Index," Chapter 26 In Bert Spilker, ed. Quality of Life and Pharmacoeconomics in Clinical Trials. Second Edition. Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven Press, 1996, pp 239-252.

Torrance, George W., David H. Feeny, William J. Furlong, Ronald D. Barr, Yueming Zhang, and Qinan Wang, "Multi-Attribute Preference Functions for A Comprehensive Health Status Classification System:  Health Utilities Index Mark 2." Medical Care, Vol. 34, No. 7, July 1996, pp 702-722.


For information on the HUI2 valuation in the United Kingdom follow the following link C.McCabe at University of Sheffield
Follow the links for detailed information on the HUI3 classification system;
Selecting a Self- or Interviewer- or Web-based administration format;
Reviewing the Table of Contents/Introduction of the HUI Self-Complete Questionnaire manual;
Completing the on-line Application Form to contact the HUI Service Centre
    with your study-particulars and allow your HUInc representative help you
    choose the HUI instrument that meets your needs.


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