Abstract
For pressure injury management, making treatment decisions in value-based medicine is an important part of patient-centered care for improving quality of life（QOL）. However, few studies have evaluated QOL of patients with pressure injuries. Previous studies of QOL on nonresponsive patients have indicated excellent reliability and validity between patient self-reports and primary caregiver reports.
This study aimed to examine the QOL of patients with pressure injury in Japan using the EQ-5D-5L as well as assess the reliability and validity of evaluation values obtained by proxy answers from nursing staff. Assessments were made on 151 patients（68.8±16.4 years）and 34 nurses from 16 facilities. The utility value and visual analog scale were 0.41±0.24 and 50.4±23.1, respectively. The concurrent validity between utility values and the Freiburg Life Quality Assessment wound module, a measure for chronic wounds, was rs = -0.62. When comparing patients’ answers with those of nurse proxies, the intraclass correlation coefficients for the utility value and visual analog scale were 0.70（P < 0.01）and 0.54（P < 0.01）, respectively. The utility value tended to decrease as the pressure injury became deeper（P = 0.04）. When completed by nurses, the Japanese version of EuroQol provided reliable and valid proxy ratings of QOL for patients with pressure injuries, suggesting clinical relevance.
