Generic Health-Related Quality of Life Utility Measure for Preschool Children (Health Utilities Preschool): Design, Development, and Properties

•This article describes the development of a new generic preference-based measurement (GPM) system: Health Utilities Pre-School (HuPS). HuPS fills the void for a reliable and valid GPM system applicable to children at 2 to 4 years of age. GPM provides scores of health-related quality of life to inform important policy decisions considering the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of healthcare services and has the properties required for higher-order summary measures such as quality-adjusted life-years.•HuPS scores of health-related quality of life are reliable and valid. HuPS measurements are commensurate and continuous with those of Health Utilities Index Mark 3 (HUI3). HuPS expands the applicability of HUI3-based scoring to include subjects as young as 2 years of age. HuPS, in combination with HUI3, makes HUI3-based scoring applicable to the greatest range of age applicability among leading GPM systems: from 2 years of age.•HUI3 is the most frequently used GPM system for children worldwide. Consequently, HuPS has the potential to be widely used in numerous languages and countries as HUI3 does for older subjects.