Assessing Health-Related Quality of Life of Adult Patients with Intermediate Burns: The Added Value of an Itching and Cognition Item for the EQ-5D: A Retrospective Observational Study

The EQ-5D is increasingly used to assess the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of adult patients with intermediate burns. However, this generic instrument may lack sensitivity, as important problems for burn patients, such as itching and cognition problems are not included in this instrument. This retrospective observational study investigates the value of adding an itching and cognition item to the EQ-5D-3L. Patients completed the EQ-5D-3L, and the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS), including an itching item and an extra cognition item three months postburn. The potential added value of an itching and cognition item was studied by distribution, informativity, convergent validity, dimension dependency, and explanatory analyses. In total, 120 patients were included of whom 65% reported itching and 23% reported cognition problems. Adding an itching item to the EQ-5D improved the discriminatory power and informativity of the EQ-5D-3L, but barely increased the explanatory power (0.4%) and decreased the convergent validity (r = −0.529 vs. r = −0.612). In contrast, adding a cognition item slightly improved the informativity and discriminatory power. Moreover, convergent validity (r = −0.617 vs. r = −0.612) and explanatory power increased (4.0%). In conclusion, adding an itching item to the EQ-5D-3L provides some additional information, however, the added value is small, whereas adding a cognition item improved the measurement properties of the EQ-5D-3L in our sample and should be considered when assessing HRQL in adult patients with intermediate burns.