Adolescent valuation of CARIES-QC-U: a child-centred preference-based measure of dental caries

OBJECTIVES: This study develops an adolescent value set for a child-centred dental caries-specific measure of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) based upon CARIES-QC (Caries Impacts and Experiences Questionnaire for Children). This study develops a new approach to valuing child health by eliciting adolescent preferences and anchoring these onto the 1–0 full health-dead QALY (quality adjusted life year) scale using ordinal adult preferences. METHODS: Two online surveys were created to elicit preferences for the CARIES-QC classification system. The first comprised best–worst scaling (BWS) tasks for completion by adolescents aged 11–16 years. The second comprised discrete choice experiment tasks with a duration attribute (DCE(TTO)) for completion by adults aged over 18 years. Preferences were modelled using the conditional logit model. Mapping regressions anchored the adolescent BWS data onto the QALY scale using adult DCE(TTO) values, since the BWS survey data alone cannot generate anchored values. RESULTS: 723 adolescents completed the BWS survey and 626 adults completed the DCE(TTO) survey. The samples were representative of UK adolescent and adult populations. Fully consistent and robust models were produced for both BWS and DCE(TTO) data. BWS preferences were mapped onto DCE(TTO) values, resulting utility estimates for each health state defined by the classification system. CONCLUSION: This is the first measure with predetermined scoring based on preferences to be developed specifically for use in child oral health research, and uses a novel technique to generate a value set using adolescent preferences. The estimates can be used to generate QALYs in economic evaluations of interventions to improve children’s oral health. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12955-022-01918-w.