The DR-U is a preference-based utility instrument developed using a discrete choice experiment (DCE) in a clinical sample of diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema patients. It is sensitive to disease severity and related visual impairment.
The DR-U comprises 5 items that ask patients to rate their difficulty in five areas of QoL:
Visual symptoms
Lighting and glare
Activity limitation and mobility
Socio-emotional well-being
Inconvenience
The scores for these 5 items are converted to utilities using the utility weights determined by the DCE.
DR-U can be used by researchers to assess health utilities associated with diabetic retinopathy and changes following treatment interventions.
It could also contribute to models investigating the cost-effectiveness associated with diabetic retinopathy treatments and inform health policies related to personnel, resources and funding allocated to vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy, eye care and rehabilitation.
While the DR-U may be applied in any country, the utility weights to convert the raw scores to utilities were generated based on an Australian population. As such, utilities generated in other countries or populations should be interpreted with caution.
Main Publication
Development and validation of the DR-U