Population health status in China: EQ-5D results, by age, sex and socio-economic status, from the National Health Services Survey 2008

PURPOSE: To measure and analyse national EQ-5D data and to provide norms for the Chinese general population by age, sex, educational level, income and employment status. METHODS: The EQ-5D instrument was included in the National Health Services Survey 2008 (n = 120,703) to measure health-related quality of life (HRQoL). All descriptive analyses by socio-economic status (educational level, income and employment status) and by clinical characteristics (discomfort during the past 2 weeks, diagnosed with chronic diseases during the past 6 months and hospitalised during the past 12 months) were stratified by sex and age group. RESULTS: Health status declines with advancing age, and women reported worse health status than men, which is in line with EQ-5D population health studies in other countries and previous population health studies in China. The EQ-5D instrument distinguished well for the known groups: positive association between socio-economic status and HRQoL was observed among the Chinese population. Persons with clinical characteristics had worse HRQoL than those without. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides Chinese population HRQoL data measured by the EQ-5D instrument, based on a national representative sample. The main findings for different subgroups are consistent with results from EQ-5D population studies in other countries, and discriminative validity was supported. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11136-010-9762-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.