Estimating utility values for vesicoureteral reflux in the general public using an online tool.

INTRODUCTION: Cost-utility analyses are useful to study conditions without a widely accepted treatment algorithm; in pediatric urology, one such condition is vesicoureteral reflux (VUR). A necessary component of cost-utility analyses is to accurately calculate the "utility", a numerical surrogate of quality of life, for various health states. Our aims were to determine utility values for representative VUR health states and to verify the feasibility of a novel online platform for utility elicitation in order to reduce the time and expense of such analyses. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of American adults was conducted using the time-trade-off (TTO) method. Respondents were recruited from an online work interface, Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Four annualized VUR health states were assessed: VUR treated with/without continuous antibiotic prophylaxis (CAP) and with/without associated febrile urinary tract infection (UTI). A 6-week post-operative scenario following open ureteroneocystostomy was also assessed. RESULTS: We received 278 survey responses (70% response rate). The respondents were largely between the ages of 25 and 44 (59%), female (60%), and Caucasian (76%). Thirty-seven percent had a college degree, and 44% were parents. Compared with a perfect health state of 1.0, we found mean utilities of 0.87 for VUR, regardless of whether CAP was used or whether UTI was present (p=0.9). The immediate post-operative period following ureteroneocystostomy garnered an annualized utility of 0.94. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that MTurk-based utility assessment is feasible, and that subjects view the VUR health state as only slightly inferior to perfect health. This includes VUR health states incorporating CAP and febrile UTI.