title: Would you go broke to stay alive in Singapore? Further analysis of a survey on how costs may affect choice of therapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study attempts to explore how high treatment costs can result in people foregoing necessary treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Health care professionals (HCPs) were invited to complete a questionnaire survey, in which they were requested to imagine that they had locally recurrent head and neck cancers. They were then asked to choose a treatment in each of the 3 scenarios, which differed only in the cost of treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Majority would choose the cheapest treatment option if treatment costs mirrored that in real life. But majority would opt for the treatment that gave the greatest median survival, if cost was not an issue.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High cost of treatment can be a strong deterrent to patients who need and can benefit from those treatments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, National Cancer Center, Singapore. danielq@pacific.net.sg
authors.forename: Song Chiek
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Quah
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002755:Choice Behavior; D013759:Dronabinol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012846:Singapore / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016312:Treatment Refusal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D013759:Dronabinol; C062018:HU 211