Evaluating preference weights for the Asthma Symptom Utility Index (ASUI) across countries

Table 3 Comparison of VAS Preferences for Asthma Health States by Country

State	Italy Mean (SD) N = 30	France Mean (SD) N = 30	UK Mean (SD) N = 30	US Mean(SD) N = 161	Overall F Value	Paired Group Comparisons
Corner States ^a
Severe cough	0.289 (0.245)	0.216 (0.167)	0.246 (0.224)	0.263 (0.254)	0.5
Severe wheeze	0.212 (0.211)	0.193 (0.130)	0.225 (0.185)	0.239 (0.255)	0.4
Severe dyspnea	0.125 (0.138)	0.149 (0.116)	0.227 (0.226)	0.158 (0.212)	1.5
Severe awaken at night	0.252 (0.190)	0.115 (0.143)	0.269 (0.267)	0.255 (0.246)	3.3*	5*
Severe medication side effects	0.439 (0.243)	0.171 (0.199)	0.345 (0.295)	0.253 (0.256)	7.0***	1* 3
Multi-attribute States ^b
Moderate cough and dyspnea	0.584 (0.218)	0.488 (0.199)	0.660 (0.215)	0.309 (0.250)	27.1***	3*** 4* 5 6*
Moderate cough and wheeze	0.443 (0.230)	0.307 (0.159)	0.438 (0.223)	0.219 (0.201)	17.4***	3* 6*
Severe cough; moderate wheeze and dyspnea	0.296 (0.185)	0.181 (0.118)	0.355 (0.180)	0.172 (0.176)	12.5***	3 4 6***
Severe cough; moderate wheeze, and awake at night	0.345 (0.200)	0.251 (0.196)	0.395 (0.195)	0.196 (0.201)	11.4***	3 6*
Severe cough, dyspnea, and awaken at night; moderate wheeze and side effects	0.112 (0.122)	0.072 (0.068)	0.193 (0.139)	0.075 (0.115)	9.4***	4 6*

Pairwise comparisons between means were performed using Scheffe's test of multiple comparisons.
1 = Italy vs. France, 2 = Italy vs. UK, 3 = Italy vs. US, 4 = France vs. UK, 5 = France vs. US, 6 = UK vs. US.
***<.001, ** <.01, *<.05.
^a For corner states, one symptom is described as severe and frequent while other remaining symptoms reflect no problem.
^b The multi-attribute states vary symptom severity as listed, with other remaining symptoms reflecting mild severity. Frequency remains constant for each symptom within each health state.

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