title: Health state utilities for metastatic breast cancer.
abstract: The aim of the study was to obtain United Kingdom-based societal preferences for distinct stages of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) and six common toxicities. Health states were developed based on literature review, iterative cycles of interviews and a focus group with clinical experts. They described the burden of progressive, responding and stable disease on treatment; and also febrile neutropenia, stomatitis; diarrhoea/vomiting; fatigue; hand-foot syndrome (grade 3/4 toxicities) and hair loss. One hundred members of the general public rated them using standard gamble to determine health state utility. Data were analysed with a mixed model analysis. The study sample was a good match to the general public of England and Wales by demographics and current quality of life. Stable disease on treatment had a utility value of 0.72, with a corresponding gain of +0.07 following a treatment response and a decline by 0.27 for disease progression. Toxicities lead to declines in utility between 0.10 (diarrhoea/vomiting) and 0.15 (febrile neutropenia). This study underlines the value that society place on the avoidance of disease progression and severe side effects in MBC. This may be the largest preference study in breast cancer designed to survey a representative general public sample.
authors.affiliation: United BioSource Corporation, 20 Bloomsbury Square, London WC1A 2NS, UK. andrew.lloyd@unitedbiosource.com
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lloyd
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nafees
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Narewska
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dewilde
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Watkins
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011788:Quality of Life; D012008:Recurrence; D012737:Sex Factors; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology