Premium
Analysing public preferences for cancer screening programmes
Author(s) -
GyrdHansen Dorte,
Søgaard Jes
Publication year - 2001
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.622
Subject(s) - ranking (information retrieval) , actuarial science , test (biology) , weighting , cancer screening , payment , quality (philosophy) , medicine , preference , scale (ratio) , set (abstract data type) , health care , cancer , statistics , economics , computer science , mathematics , geography , paleontology , philosophy , radiology , finance , epistemology , machine learning , economic growth , biology , programming language , cartography
Economic evaluations generally fail to incorporate elements of intangible costs and benefits, such as anxiety and discomfort associated with the screening test and diagnostic test, as well as the magnitude of utility associated with a reduction in the risk of dying from cancer. In the present analysis, 750 respondents were interviewed and asked to rank, according to priority, a number of alternative screening programme set‐ups. Focus was on colorectal cancer screening and breast cancer screening. The alternative programmes varied with respect to number of tests performed, risk reduction obtained, probability of a false positive outcome and extent of co‐payment. Stated preferences were analysed using discrete ranking modelling and the relative weighting of the programme attributes identified. Applying discrete choice methods to elicit preferences within this area of health care seems justified by the face validity of the results. The signs of the coefficients are in accordance with a priori hypotheses. This paper suggests that large‐scale surveys focusing on individuals' preferences for cancer screening programmes may contribute significantly to the quality of economic evaluations within this field of health care. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.