Degree of coincidence of the change in health-related quality of life in the recovery-phase rehabilitation ward and the proxy’s response: Evaluation of patients with musculoskeletal disorder by EQ-5D-5L

Background Recently, a conversion table of the EuroQol 5-dimension 5-level (EQ-5D-5L) unique to Japan was created that facilitates the measurement of the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of a participant. Currently, however, only a few investigations have been conducted of HRQOL using the EQ-5D-5L in the recovery-phase rehabilitation ward. Moreover, proxy responses for patients who are unable to respond for themselves have only been reported for stroke patients. Methods In this study, we used the EQ-5D-5L to investigate changes in HRQOL before and after rehabilitation and the degree of agreement between the patient’s responses and the occupational therapist’s proxy responses in patients with musculoskeletal disorders who were hospitalized in a recovery-phase rehabilitation ward. Results Among the 77 participants, HRQOL was improved after rehabilitation, and the effect size was large (self response; SRM = 0.90, proxy response; SRM = 0.95). Regarding the degree of agreement between the QOL values, the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.68 for the initial evaluation and 0.72 for the re-evaluation, indicating substantial agreement. Conclusions The results of this study showed that the EQ-5D-5L was responsive as an indicator of outcome of patients with musculoskeletal disorders who were hospitalized in a recovery-phase rehabilitation ward and that proxy responses by occupational therapists can measure QOL values similar to those of the individuals themselves.