Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making
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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 reduce MSE and mean absolute error (MAE) when compared to country-specific health utilities. ⋯ Health utilities derived from shrinkage estimation allow valuation studies with small sample size to "borrow strength" from other valuation studies to reduce uncertainty.