Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36469212›Full record

ArticleQuality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation2023

What is measured by the composite, single-item pain/discomfort dimension of the EQ-5D-5L? An exploratory analysis.

Lidia Engel, David G T Whitehurst, Juanita Haagsma, M F Janssen, Brendan Mulhern

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Article in Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

10 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. The psychometric performance of the EQ-5D-5L composite and component items in the U.S. General population and by age group.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2025
    Article
  3. Article
  4. A Qualitative Examination of the Content Validity of the EQ-5D-5L and EQ-5D-Y-3L in Adult and Paediatric Patients With Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025
    Article
  5. Frequency and severity response scales for pain and discomfort: psychometric insights from EQ-HWB.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2025
    Article
  6. Article
  7. The performance relationship between the EQ-5D-5L composite "Anxiety/Depression" dimension and anxiety and depression symptoms in a large, general population sample.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2024
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Understanding the measurement relationship between EQ-5D-5L, PROMIS-29 and PROPr.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2023
    Article
  10. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Lidia EngelMonash University Health Economics Group, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Level 4, 553 St. Kilda Road, Melbourne, VIC, 3004, Australia. lidia.engel@monash.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7959-3149
David G T WhitehurstFaculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7890-6756
Juanita HaagsmaDepartment of Public Health, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2055-548X
M F JanssenSection Medical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychiatry, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6602-6949
Brendan MulhernCentre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3656-8063

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThis study examines the EQ-5D-5L pain/discomfort dimension by drawing comparisons with five other pain and discomfort items (pain severity, discomfort severity, pain frequency, discomfort frequency and pain interference) collected in the Australian psychometric study for the EQ Health and Wellbeing instrument.

methodsParticipants, recruited via a market research company, completed an online survey. Methods of analyses included the assessment of descriptive statistics, variation in reporting patterns using chi-square tests and cross-tabulations, correlation analyses, ordered univariate logistic regression, and discriminatory power analyses (Shannon index (H') and Shannon Evenness index (J')).

resultsSurvey data from 514 participants were used. Compared with EQ-5D-5L pain/discomfort, there was a higher proportion of respondents reporting some level of impairment on at least one of the pain severity and discomfort severity items (74% versus 81%). Correlation with EQ-5D-5L pain/discomfort was strongest for pain severity (r = 0.83) and weakest for discomfort frequency (r = 0.41); the same inferences were drawn for predictive ability. Adding any additional pain or discomfort items to the EQ-5D-5L increased the absolute informativity (H') but not the relative informativity (J'). When replacing EQ-5D-5L pain/discomfort with separate pain and/or discomfort items - i.e., adding items to a modified 'EQ-4D-5L'-absolute informativity increased, while relative informativity increased only when pain interference and frequency-related items (independently or in combination) were added.

conclusionThe EQ-5D-5L pain/discomfort dimension captures aspects of pain more than aspects of discomfort. Potential reasons include the absence of descriptors or because pain is mentioned first in the composite item.

Indexed as

PainQuality of LifeAustraliaHealth StatusHumansPsychometricsReproducibility of ResultsSurveys and QuestionnairesPainPain measurementQuality-adjusted life yearsQuality of lifeSurveys and questionnaires

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.