THE EQ-5D INSTRUMENT OF HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE - PRESENTATION AND APPLICATIONS IN BULGARIAN CONTEXT, Desislava Vankova

Abstract: The assessment of health-related quality of life is performed with standardized
instruments, such as the EQ-5D questionnaire in its versions (EQ-5D-3L; EQ-5D-5L; EQ-5DY; EQ-5D-HWB). It has become the "gold standard" and is used successfully in over 30 national
and over 10 regional surveys, including in Bulgaria. The aim of this report is to present this
standardized instrument for health-related quality of life evaluation and to monitor the national
application in a public health and clinical context. Material and methods: The research
included the scientific information from the official portal of the EuroQol Research Foundation
and PubMed. The following keywords have been used: Bulgaria, EQ-5D.
Results and conclusion: Results have been found, as from its first application of EQ-5D-3L in
2010-2011. The interest in the EQ-5D application in Bulgarian context has been growing.
Importantly, population norms for the five-level variant EQ-5D have been successfully created.
The EQ-5D instrument is both a science-based and a practical way to measure subjective health
and to reveal health inequalities.
Keywords: EQ-5D; health-related quality of life; Bulgaria, EQ-5D

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