Work Package 8 involves a systematic review, which aims to understand the state of knowledge around the relative social value for child versus adult health, and across children of different ages. The questions being addressed include:

• Is there evidence that the public gives a different weight to the same health gain when received by a child than an adult?
• Does the estimated relative social value of child to adult health differ for extensions of length of life versus improvements in quality of life?
• Does the estimated relative social value of child to adult health vary by research methodology?
• Does the estimated social value of child to adult health and QALY gain vary across the childhood age range (from newborn to young adult)?

• Does the estimated social value of child to adult health differ for different groups: public, decision makers, patients, children, adults, parents etc.
• What evidence is there for preference heterogeneity, and polarized views – and what are the implications for attempts to reflect ‘average’ societal views about the priority to be given to patients of different ages?
• What do we know about why people hold certain views relating to prioritising health gain between children and adults and across different age children?

The Systematic Review was published at PharmacoEconomics:

Systematic review of the relative social value of child and adult health.