Explanation on the concept of mapping and MAPS statement

Abstract

To calculate the quality-adjusted life years (QALY), it is necessary to use quality of life (QOL) scores measured on a preference-based measure. In recent years, it has become a frequent practice to employ ”mapping“ to utilize scores measured on a non-preference-based QOL measure for economic evaluation of healthcare technologies. Mapping is a procedure for predicting the QOL scores measured on a preference-based measure from those measured on a non-preference-based measure. As for study reports on mapping, there has been a MApping onto Preference-based measures reporting Standards (MAPS) statement drawn up comprising 23 sections. We translated MAPS statement into Japanese and it is shown in the appendix of this article, including a detailed account of the statement. The current status of research on mapping is indeed a mixture of wheat and chaff. However, MAPS statement may improve the quality of reporting on mapping research.