Translation certificates for Paper Self-Complete versions are applicable for all corresponding modes of administration and can be provided upon request. Translation certificates only confirm and reflect the most extensive translation procedure and will not be revised whenever minor or major modifications are being made which in itself does not change the procedure.

A mapping study has been commissioned which will allow EQ-5D-Y-5L outcomes to be mapped to existing EQ-5D-Y-3L value sets. Until the results of that study become available, it should be remembered that there are many ways of analysing EQ-5D-Y-5L data and most of them do not require the generation of EQ-5D values (i.e. utilities, or preference weights). For more details on how to analyse EQ-5D-Y-5L data, please see the User Guide. For more information on how to analyse and report EQ-5D data in general, a comprehensive methodological guide has been published.

The EQ-5D-Y-5L provides respondents with a greater range of response options than the EQ-5D-Y-3L allowing them to describe their health more precisely. Expanding the number of severity response levels in each dimension reduces ceiling effects and improves the sensitivity of the measure in some conditions. 

The five-level structure of the EQ-5D-Y-5L is also more comparable to the adult EQ-5D-5L, which leads to a smoother transition between youth and adult instruments, for example when monitoring health-related quality of life in longitudinal studies and moving from paediatric to adult populations.

Having two versions of EQ-5D-Y available provides researchers with a wider choice of tools, allowing them to select the version which best meets their study needs and which is best adapted to local conditions.

Until recently, no value sets were available for EQ-5D-Y-3L because research showed that the approach used to value EQ-5D-3L health states for use in adult populations was not appropriate when valuing EQ-5D-Y-3L health states for use in economic evaluations of healthcare interventions for paediatric-age populations. Evidence has showed that health states are valued differently when used to describe an adult compared to a child, that valuation techniques suitable for valuing ‘adult’ health states may be unsuitable for valuing ‘youth’ health states, and that health state values are affected by the wording used in the instrument (the wording of EQ-5D-Y-3L health states differs somewhat from that of EQ-5D-3L health states). Consequently, EQ-5D-3L value sets should not be used to assign values to EQ-5D-Y-3L health states.

At present, value sets for the EQ-5D-Y-5L are not available. The use of adult EQ-5D-5L value sets to generate EQ-5D values for EQ-5D-Y-5L health states is not recommended. The EQ-5D-5L and EQ-5D-Y-5L descriptive systems differ somewhat and preferences for child health may differ from preferences for adult health, which means that a value set for the EQ-5D-5L may misrepresent values for the EQ-5D-Y-5L. For those reasons, we do not recommend using an EQ-5D-5L value set to derive preference weights (utilities) for EQ-5D-Y-5L health states.