Establishment of Health Utility Indices for Post-Infectious Functional XXXX in Active Duty US Military.

@entity233 @entity294 @entity344 @entity29 @entity2210 @entity1744
INTRODUCTION: Knowledge of disease burden attributable to @entity344 (FGD) in travelers is lacking, despite the high incidence of @entity294 (TD) associated with increased FGD risk. One tool for assessing the impact of disease on health-related quality of life is the health utility index (HUI), which values health states based on preferential health outcomes. Health utilities can be used as preference weights in the estimation of quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). METHODS: Six months following travel to Egypt or @entity233 , 120 US military personnel completed a survey on TD during deployment, health-related quality of life (SF-36), and the onset of functional @entity29 (Rome II). Elements from the SF-36 were used to develop SF-6D values, which were combined with health state valuations to enable calculation of HUI scores for each subject. Mean index scores were compared across functional outcomes, specific symptoms, and demographic profiles. RESULTS: The presence of FGD significantly reduced index scores, with @entity1744 ( @entity1744 ) and @entity2210 showing the greatest impact (-0.17 and -0.19, respectively) compared with those with no FGD (p < 0.05). Importantly, however, several individuals met multiple FGD outcome definitions. Additionally, a number of symptoms associated with abnormal bowel habits and abdominal pain were associated with reduced index scores regardless of outcome. CONCLUSION: FGD are associated with significant morbidity as assessed by HUIs. Given the strong link between TD and FGD as well as the large number of travelers from the developed to the developing world, additional study is needed to further understand this association and efforts aimed at primary disease prevention are warranted.
