Abstract:
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The components of health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) include physical health, disability, emotional state, and cognitive functioning. Measures of HRQoL are used to evaluate the effect of health policy interventions at the population level and clinical interventions for individual patients. The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is a large ongoing longitudinal survey targeting the United States population over age 50. While the HRS survey routinely asks a rich set of questions covering demographics, health, family structure, housing, finances, and medical care, questions directly corresponding to a HRQoL scoring system are not part of the core ongoing survey. However, a Health Utilities Index Mark 3 (HUI3) questionnaire was administered to a subsample of HRS participants in the year 2000 HRS wave. The corresponding HUI3 health states and HRQoL utility scores were recently derived and made available to the public. This article describes the derived HUI3 data, nonresponse patterns, logical and probabilistic imputations, and validity results. These publicly available HUI3 data will serve as a helpful foundation for health researchers who wish to better understand HRQoL in the HRS.
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