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Health utilities for controlled and uncontrolled chronic hand eczema in healthcare employees
Author(s) -
Küster Denise,
Haufe Eva,
Rethberg Constanze,
Bauer Andrea,
Seidler Andreas,
Schmitt Jochen
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
contact dermatitis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1600-0536
pISSN - 0105-1873
DOI - 10.1111/cod.12863
Subject(s) - health care , medicine , public health , psychological intervention , hand eczema , environmental health , productivity , perspective (graphical) , family medicine , nursing , allergy , economic growth , immunology , artificial intelligence , computer science , contact dermatitis , economics
Summary Background Health utilities provide a universally applicable method for measuring the relative preferences or values of specific health states. Health economic studies use health utilities to estimate disease burden and the cost‐effectiveness of interventions. Chronic hand eczema ( CHE ) affects many individuals and adversely affects work productivity. Health utilities for CHE from the perspective of healthcare professionals are lacking. Objectives To assess health utilities for CHE from the perspectives of employees in the healthcare sector and affected patients. Methods A cross‐sectional study with volunteers from the healthcare sector (n = 126) and patients (n = 32) was conducted to establish health utilities (ranging from 1 = perfect health to 0 = death) for mild and severe CHE . Results The median health utilities of the healthy volunteers derived with the time trade‐off method were 0.97 (mean: 0.92) for mild CHE and 0.77 (mean: 0.75) for severe CHE . The median health utilities for mild and severe CHE from the perspective of affected patients were 0.98 (mean: 0.91) and 0.82 (mean: 0.77), respectively. Differences in health utilities between the two study groups were not significant. Conclusion CHE constitutes a considerable burden from the perspective of healthcare employees. Effective control of CHE constitutes an important public health goal.