Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41920450›Full record

ArticleQuality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation2026

Measuring health-related quality of life in multiple sclerosis: comparing the acceptability, validity and responsiveness of the EQ-5D-3L and MSIS-8D.

Elizabeth Goodwin, Bernhard Michalowsky, Rod Middleton, Annie Hawton

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In one paragraph

Article in Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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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

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Elizabeth GoodwinUniversity of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK. e.goodwin@exeter.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1351-9170
Bernhard MichalowskyPatient-Reported Outcomes and Health Economics Research, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Greifswald, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3425-0089
Rod MiddletonPopulation Data Science, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2130-4420
Annie HawtonUniversity of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1336-5899

Funding

EuroQol Research Foundation 1572-RA
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeConcerns have been raised about the sensitivity and responsiveness of the EQ-5D, one of the most commonly used preference-based health-related quality of life measures, in the context of multiple sclerosis (MS). In response to these concerns, a condition-specific preference-based measure, the Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scale Eight Dimensions (MSIS-8D), was developed. This research aimed to assess the psychometric and distributional properties of the MSIS-8D compared to the EQ-5D-3L, in people with MS.

methodsAnalyses were undertaken using data from the UK MS Register. Both measures were compared in terms of acceptability (missing data), distributional properties (health state frequencies, health state density curves and indices), construct validity in relation to disability, mobility, fatigue, anxiety and depression (discriminative and convergent validity, using ANOVA, independent t-tests and Spearman correlations), and responsiveness to symptom onset and relapse (mean change scores, standardised response means, standardised effect sizes, paired t-tests).

resultsThe MSIS-8D exhibited superior distributional properties, while the EQ-5D-3L showed greater acceptability. Both measures demonstrated excellent construct validity. Neither measure appeared responsive to symptom onset, and only the MSIS-8D met all criteria for responsiveness when people moved from a non-relapse to a relapse state.

conclusionAlthough the MSIS-8D appears to offer superior distributional properties and responsiveness compared to the EQ-5D-3L, the responsiveness of both measures in this analysis was limited. This adds weight to existing concerns about the ability of utility measures used in healthcare decision-making to fully capture treatment effects in MS.

Indexed as

Health StatusMultiple SclerosisQuality of LifeAdultAgedFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPsychometricsReproducibility of ResultsSurveys and QuestionnairesUnited KingdomEconomic evaluationEQ-5DHealth-related quality of lifeMultiple sclerosisPreference-based measuresPsychometrics

Identifiers

PMID41920450
PMCPMC13043564

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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.