Greater disease duration in systemic sclerosis (SSc) showed a positive association with direct measure (standard gamble=SG) of utility elicitation after a period of 2 years, a recent study found. Researchers evaluated 223 patients with SSc (mean age [SD] 51 ± 16 years; 84% women), who responded to direct health state utility values techniques, including the visual analog scale (VAS), time tradeoff (TTO), and SG. They found:

• Mean (SD) HSUV were 0.67 (0.19) for the VAS, 0.76 (0.28) for the TTO, 0.84 (0.22) for the SG, and 0.65 (0.13) for the Short Form 6D (SF-6D).

• In patients with early disease (<2 years, n=77), the mean HSUV values were 0.64 (VAS), 0.70 (TTO), 0.80 (SG), and 0.63 (SF-6D) vs for those with a longer disease duration: 0.69, 0.79, 0.87, and 0.67, respectively.

• In multivariate analysis, the SG measure showed a significant and positive association with disease duration measured as a continuous variable and using a threshold of 2 years.

Citation: Raymakers AJN, Tsao NW, Marra CA, Clements PJ, Khanna D. Health state utilities and disease duration in systemic sclerosis: Is there an association? [Published online ahead of print August 1, 2016]. J Rheumatol. doi:10.3899/jrheum.160162.