A Validation Study of Child Health-6 Dimension (CH-6D), a Generic Preference-Based Health-Related Quality of Life Measure

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify the validity of CH-6D, a generic preference-based health-related quality of life measure for children and adolescents. METHODS: A group of children were recruited from 3 elementary schools and 3 community child- centers in Cheonan (n=112). Adolescents were recruited nationwide from the panel of high school students provided by Macromilembrain (n=229). The elementary school students completed the survey through self-administration and the high school students completed it on-line through their smart phone. Two kinds of construct validity were tested. First, convergent validity was tested by correlating the CH-6D score with Health Utilities Index (HUI) Mark 2 which was also a utility measure for children and adolescents. Second, known-group validity was tested by testing differences in the CH-6D scores by subjective health status and use of medical services. RESULTS: The correlation between CH-6D and HUI Mark 2 was statistically significant in both elementary and high school students. The Pearson correlation coefficients for the elementary and high school samples were .52 (p < 0.0001) and .66 (p < .0001), respectively. Results of a one-way ANOVA showed that better the subjective health status, the higher was the CH-6D score. The results of the t-tests showed that the CH-6D score was significantly lower in those who had used medical service in the previous two weeks than in those who had not used it for both elementary and high school samples. CONCLUSIONS: CH-6D was found to have convergent validity and known-group validity for both elementary and high school students. This shows the potential validity of CH-6D for clinical and economic research in children and adolescents.