Evaluating quality-adjusted life years: estimation of the HUI2 from the SF-36. Med Decis Making

Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) are well recognized as a valid measure for outcomes in cost-effectiveness analyses. A summary health utility score is necessary to evaluate QALYs. The objective of this study was to predict a summary utility score (represented by the Health Utility Index [HUI2]) from scores on the SF-36. Methods. A structural equation framework was applied to longitudinal data collected from 1992 to 1995 on a sample of patients insured by Southern California Kaiser Permanente (N = 6921). An ordinary least squares (OLS) method was used to estimate the HUI2. Results. The OLS model on cross-sectional data predicted 50.5% of the observed variance in HUI2 scores. Parameter estimates of all SF-36 components showed statistical significance at the P < 0.05 level. Conclusions. Results of this study provide a quantitative link between two important measures of health status. The present model can be used to estimate health utility summary scores in studies that have collected SF-36 data

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Objectives. To assess the implementation of a community-based health promotion program in the pharmacy school curriculum that combined didactic and experiential educational tools to teach public health and management concepts. Design. The health promotion curriculum was implemented sequentially during the second professional year. The programs were assessed based on 5 criteria including pharmacy student participation, course examinations and projects, and evaluations of pharmacy students, teachers, and first-grade students. Assessment. Overall, the service-learning programs were beneficial to both the community and the pharmacy students. One hundred percent of the health fair participants reported being either satisfied or very satisfied. Six hundred people participated in the health fairs and over 900 first-grade students participated in the poison prevention program. Mean knowledge scores of the first-grade students were 3.95 before participating in the program and 4.46 after. Conclusions. These programs offer valuable benefits to the community while developing professional attitudes and skills in pharmacy students