No abstract

Objectives To generate insight into the differences between utility measures EuroQol 5D (EQ-5D), Health Utilities Index Mark II (HUI2) and Mark III (HUI3) and their impact on the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) for hearing aid fitting Methods Persons with hearing complaints completed EQ-5D, HUI2 and HUI3 at baseline and, when applicable, after hearing aid fitting. Practicality, construct validity, agreement, responsiveness and impact on the ICER were examined. Results All measures had high completion rates. HUI3 was capable of discriminating between clinically distinctive groups. Utility scores (n = 315) for EQ-5D UK and Dutch tariff (0.83; 0.86), HUI2 (0.77) and HUI3 (0.61) were significantly different, agreement was low to moderate. Change after hearing aid fitting (n = 70) for HUI2 (0.07) and HUI3 (0.12) was statistically significant, unlike the EQ-5D UK (0.01) and Dutch (0.00) tariff. ICERs varied from e647,209/QALY for the EQ-5D Dutch tariff to e15,811/QALY for HUI3. Conclusion Utility scores, utility gain and ICERs heavily depend on the measure that is used to elicit them. This study indicates HUI3 as the instrument of first choice when measuring utility in a population with hearing complaints, but emphasizes the importance of a clear notion of what constitutes utility with regard to economic analyses.Keywords Hearing loss Á Costs and cost analysis Á Quality-adjusted life years Á Questionnaires Á Outcome assessment (health care) Abbreviations BEPTABetter ear pure tone average hearing loss CI Confidence Interval ENT Ear Nose and Throat EQ-5D UK tariff EuroQol 5d with British utility scoring function

The economical burden of tinnitus to society is substantial, and severity of tinnitus is an important predictor of the costs made by patients.

Folic acid supplementation slowed the decline in hearing of the speech frequencies associated with aging in a population from a country without folic acid fortification of food. The effect requires confirmation, especially in populations from countries with folic acid fortification programs. Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT00110604.

The help-seeking behaviour of hearing-impaired elderly people is related to the degree of hearing disability and the social pressure exerted by significant others as well as the willingness to try hearing aids.