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Reference‐dependent age weighting of quality‐adjusted life years
Author(s) -
Attema Arthur E.,
Brouwer Werner B. F.,
PintoPrades Jose Luis
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.4593
Subject(s) - weighting , quality of life (healthcare) , older people , demography , gerontology , medicine , age groups , loss aversion , psychology , economics , finance , nursing , sociology , radiology
People do not only care about maximizing health gains but also about their distribution. For example, they give more weight to younger patients than older patients. This pilot study aims to investigate if age weighting is reinforced by loss aversion if young people are falling behind one's perceived ‘normal’ quality of life (QoL), while older people do not. We apply a person trade‐off method in a large representative sample ( n = 990) to estimate age weighting factors. We also measure QoL levels that individuals regard as ‘normal’ for different ages, serving as reference points. We observe a considerable amount of age weighting, with 20‐year‐old patients on average receiving 1.7 times as much weight as 80‐year‐old patients. Perceived ‘normal’ QoL rapidly decreases with age of a patient. Older people are more optimistic about what constitutes ‘normal QoL’ than younger people, but they express a faster decline in normal QoL due to aging. Respondents who view all improvements to be gain enlarging show the least age weighting, but loss aversion cannot explain the results. Still, one's age‐related reference level is an important predictor of age weights. Given the explorative nature of this study, further studies are called for to generate more robust evidence.