The authors measured perceived quality of life for 4 disabilities among 450 adults in 3 resource-limited countries, measuring mean utilities using time trade-off, and surveying participants on 35 sociocultural characteristics to compare utilities for disabilities by country and examine associated sociocultural characteristics. Mean utilities were >0 for mild and moderate, but <0 for severe and profound. Utilities differed across countries (P = .007, .000, .017, .000 for mild, moderate, severe, profound, respectively). Vietnamese utilities correlated with residence (P = .03, moderate), education (P = .03, severe), and number of children (P = .03, moderate). Peruvian utilities correlated with education (P = .05, mild; P = .05, severe), experience with disability (P = .001, mild), gender (P = .04, moderate; P = .03, profound), number of hospitalizations (P = .04, severe). In Haiti, the only correlate was rejection (P = .02, moderate). Culture-specific variables differentially shape perceptions of disability in developing countries, thereby affecting cost-effectiveness calculations. Given substantially negative perceptions, reducing major disability would improve cost-effectiveness of health-policy decisions more than reducing mortality.
Keywords: disability; global health; low-resource countries; quality of life; utilities.