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Stanford Health Care

An exploration of relative health stock in advanced cancer patients MEDICAL DECISION MAKING Gaskin, D. J., Weinfurt, K. R., Castel, L. D., DePuy, Li, Y., Balshem, A., Benson, A., Burnett, C. B., Corbett, S., Marshall, J., Slater, E., Sulmasy, D. R., Van Echo, D., Meropol, N. J., Schulman, K. A. 2004; 24 (6): 614–24

Abstract

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.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.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).Relative health stock affects advanced cancer patients' treatment decisions.

View details for DOI 10.1177/0272989X04271041

View details for Web of Science ID 000225206600005

View details for PubMedID 15534342