A statistical examination of the Health Utility Index as a measure of health status for use in the national population health survey

The purpose of this study was to examine the ability of the Health Utility Index Mark III (HUI-Mark III) to provide a summary measure of health status for the 1994 National Population Health Survey (NPHS). The sample consisted of 838 (402 male, 436 female) randomly selected residents of Prince George, British Columbia. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted using the measures of physical, psychological and social well-being included in the NPHS. The saved factor scores were then regressed on to the HUI-Mark III in an attempt to determine the proportion of variance in the HUI-Mark III accounted for by the factor scores. The results suggest the HUI-Mark III is unable to discriminate between the many different levels of positive health experienced by the vast majority of the general population and that the HUI-Mark III is more or less insensitive to variation in key indicators of mental well-being.