A systematic review and critical assessment of health state utilities: weight change and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to conduct a systematic literature search to identify health state utilities for weight change in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and to review those values for appropriateness for inclusion in a submission to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). METHODS: The search was conducted using keywords and Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms designed to exhaustively capture health state utility values across a variety of known economic, health technology assessment and peer-reviewed publication databases. The values were then critically reviewed from the perspective of the NICE reference case (2008 methods guide). RESULTS: The search resulted in a large number of repeat references across databases suggesting good sensitivity. Thirty-three articles were selected for inclusion and subjected to a critical review including their methodological quality, symmetry with the NICE reference case, sample size and country source. This critical review led to a shortlist of nine utility studies, all of which had potential for inclusion in cost-utility models or a meta-analysis. CONCLUSIONS: A relatively large number of utilities have been collected in weight change and T2DM. Many of these utility values are not suitable for inclusion in a NICE submission. A better way of reviewing the methodological quality of utilities is needed.