Health-Related Quality of Life Norm Data of the Peruvian Adolescents: Results Using the EQ-5D-Y

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Health-related quality of life in the adolescent stage is of vital importance because it provides the adolescent with an impression of his or her functional capacity, allowing him or her to examine, discover, and distinguish sensations and concerns. This indicator provides information on the person’s state of health. The EQ-5D-Y questionnaire was used to measure health-related quality of life, due to its simplicity and ease of use. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to describe the perceived quality of life in Peruvian school adolescents. Despite the increase in health-related quality of life studies, there is little research on the Latin American population. For this reason, it would be important to have normative data in Peru in order to estimate the impact on health-related quality of life in adolescents, since it allows comparisons of health-related quality of life between the general population and the pathological population. The results have shown that there are differences in the EQ-5D-Y between ages, as well as between weight groups established according to body mass index. In conclusion, adolescents have perceived favorable health-related quality of life sensations and the EQ-5D-Y has shown to be a feasible and useful questionnaire, in addition to having internationally recognized and validated cross-cultural characteristics. ABSTRACT: (1) Introduction: There is a growing interest in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in adolescent population. The EQ-5D-Y is a generic HRQOL instrument that allows adolescents to understand the health status of different levels of physical, mental, and social health. This study was carried out with an adolescent population in Peru. The main objective of this article is to report the normative values of the EQ-5D-Y questionnaire in Peruvian adolescents. (2) Methods: The EQ-5D-Y questionnaire was administered to Peruvian adolescent students. A total of 1229 young people participated in the survey. The EQ-5D-Y score was reflected as a function of sex and age. (3) Results: The mean utility index of the EQ-5D-Y for the total sample was 0.890; this rating was significantly better for males at (0.899) and females at (0.881). The ceiling effect was higher for adolescent males with (47.3) females (40.7). (4) Conclusions: The results of the present study provide evidence that schooled adolescents show a positive perception of HRQOL.