Time-trade-off
Encyclopedia
Time-Trade-Off is a tool used in health economics
to help determine the quality of life of a patient or group. The individual will be presented with a set of directions such as:
The line usually ranges from 1 to 10 and the person's score is calculated by dividing the number corresponding to their cross by 10. For example if someone marks a cross at 5 on the TTO line, they would be given a TTO score of .50. This number is often used in turn to calculate quality-adjusted life years or QALYs. In our example if this person were to live for 4 years at their current health state this would be equal to 2 QALYs (4 * .5). QALYs enable health care decision makers to combine mortality
and morbidity into a single interval scale.
Other tools that are used to determine health utility are the visual analogue scale
(VAS), the standard gamble method, the EQ-5D
, the Health Utilities Index (HUI), etc.
Health economics
Health economics is a branch of economics concerned with issues related to efficiency, effectiveness, value and behavior in the production and consumption of health and health care...
to help determine the quality of life of a patient or group. The individual will be presented with a set of directions such as:
Imagine that you are told that you have 10 years left to live. In connection with this you are also told that you can choose to live these 10 years in your current health state or that you can choose to give up some life years to live for a shorter period in full health. Indicate with a cross on the line the number of years in full health that you think is of equal value to 10 years in your current health state.
The line usually ranges from 1 to 10 and the person's score is calculated by dividing the number corresponding to their cross by 10. For example if someone marks a cross at 5 on the TTO line, they would be given a TTO score of .50. This number is often used in turn to calculate quality-adjusted life years or QALYs. In our example if this person were to live for 4 years at their current health state this would be equal to 2 QALYs (4 * .5). QALYs enable health care decision makers to combine mortality
Mortality
Mortality is the condition of being mortal, or susceptible to death; the opposite of immortality.It may also refer to:* Mortality rate, a measure of the number of deaths in a given population...
and morbidity into a single interval scale.
Other tools that are used to determine health utility are the visual analogue scale
Visual Analogue Scale
A visual analogue scale is a psychometric response scale which can be used in questionnaires. It is a measurement instrument for subjective characteristics or attitudes that cannot be directly measured. When responding to a VAS item, respondents specify their level of agreement to a statement by...
(VAS), the standard gamble method, the EQ-5D
EQ-5D
EQ-5D is a standardised measure of health status developed by the EuroQol Group in order to provide a simple, generic measure of health for clinical and economic appraisal...
, the Health Utilities Index (HUI), etc.