An exploration of relative health stock in advanced cancer patients.
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.


METHODS
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).


CONCLUSIONS
Relative health stock affects advanced cancer patients' treatment decisions.
Gaskin
Darrell J
DJ
Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA. dgaskin@jhsph.edu
Weinfurt
Kevin P
KP
Castel
Liana D
LD
DePuy
Venita
V
Li
Yun
Y
Balshem
Andrew
A
Benson
Al
A
Burnett
Caroline B
CB
Corbett
Sandra
S
Marshall
John
J
Slater
Elyse
E
Sulmasy
Daniel P
DP
Van Echo
David
D
Meropol
Neal J
NJ
Schulman
Kevin A
KA
D017321:Clinical Trials, Phase I as Topic; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003657:Decision Making; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D018570:Risk Assessment