Abstract
Objective. The authors sought to empirically test whether relative health stock, a measure of patients' sense of loss in their health due to illness, influences the treatment decisions of patients facing life-threatening conditions. Specifically, they estimated the effect of relative health stock on advanced cancer patients' decisions to participate in phase I clinical trials. Method. A multicenter study was conducted to survey 328 advanced cancer patients who were offered the opportunity to participate in phase I trials. The authors asked patients to estimate the probabilities of therapeutic benefits and toxicity, their relative health stock, risk preference, and the importance of quality of life. Results. Controlling for health-related quality of life, an increase in relative health stock by 10 percentage points reduced the odds of choosing to participate in a phase I trial by 16% (odds ratio = 0.84, 95% confidence interval = 0.72, 0.97). Conclusion. Relative health stock affects advanced cancer patients' treatment decisions.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 614-624 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Medical Decision Making |
Volume | 24 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 2004 |
Keywords
- Cancer
- Clinical trials
- Decision making
- Patient preferences
- Phase I trials
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health Policy