Conducting EQ-5D Valuation Studies in Resource-Constrained Countries: The Potential Use of Shrinkage Estimators to Reduce Sample Size

BACKGROUND: Resource-constrained countries have difficulty conducting large EQ-5D valuation studies, which limits their ability to conduct cost-utility analyses using a value set specific to their own population. When estimates of similar but related parameters are available, shrinkage estimators reduce uncertainty and yield estimators with smaller mean square error (MSE). We hypothesized that health utilities based on shrinkage estimators can …