This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Llewellyn-Thomas, H. A. Articles by Naylor, C.D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Llewellyn-Thomas, H. A. Articles by Naylor, C.D. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Using a Trade-off Technique to Assess Patients' Treatment Preferences for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

J. Ivan Williams, PhD

Linda Levy

C.D. Naylor, MD, DPhil

The probability-tradeoff technique may be used to assess treatment preferences in dichotomous choices. In this feasibility study, it was used to elicit benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) patients' attitudes towards three different treatments. Eighty-seven male outpatients used rating scales and the standard gamble to indicate the extents to which they were free of BPH symptoms. Paired descriptions of "watchful waiting" (WW), treatment with an alpha blocker (AB), and transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) were presented, and the probability-tradeoff technique was used to obtain treatment-preference scores. The tradeoff task identified six internally consistent pref erence-order subgroups. The majority (n = 55; 63.2%) were in the two subgroups in which TURP was the least-preferred treatment. Compared with the other respondents, the members of these two subgroups reported significantly higher utilities for their BPH symptom status (89 vs 79; t = 2.87; p < 0.0005). Within each subgroup, preference scores for the middle- and top-ranked treatments were computed relative to the bottom- ranked treatment; for both WW and AB, significant across-subgroup differences were observed. In this preliminary study the probability-tradeoff technique was feasible, able to identify unique preference-order subgroups, and able to generate apparently mean ingful preference scores in a clinical situation involving three alternative treatments. Further development of tradeoff tasks as the value-clarification component of decision aids for individual patients seems warranted. Key words: patients' preferences; deci sion aids; benign prostatic hyperplasia; utilities; probabilities; risk aversion. (Med Decis Making 1996;16:262-272)

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S.J.T. Jansen, W. Otten, M.C.M. Baas-Thijssen, C.J.H. van de Velde, J.W.R. Nortier, and A.M. Stiggelbout Explaining Differences in Attitude Toward Adjuvant Chemotherapy Between Experienced and Inexperienced Breast Cancer Patients J. Clin. Oncol., September 20, 2005; 23(27): 6623 - 6630. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. Barrett, R. Brown, M. Mundt, L. Dye, J. Alt, N. Safdar, and R. Maberry Using Benefit Harm Tradeoffs to Estimate Sufficiently Important Difference: The Case of the Common Cold Med Decis Making, January 1, 2005; 25(1): 47 - 55. [Abstract] [PDF]

				A. M. Stiggelbout and J. C.J.M. de Haes Patient Preference for Cancer Therapy: An Overview of Measurement Approaches J. Clin. Oncol., January 1, 2001; 19(1): 220 - 230. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. D. Brundage, J. R. Davidson, W. J. Mackillop, D. Feldman-Stewart, and P. Groome Using a Treatment-tradeoff Method to Elicit Preferences for the Treatment of Locally Advanced Non-Small-cell Lung Cancer Med Decis Making, August 1, 1998; 18(3): 256 - 267. [Abstract] [PDF]