How does the perception of pain determine the selection between different treatments?

Stephan Schosser, Judith N. Trarbach and Bodo Vogt

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2016, vol. 131, issue PB, 174-182

Abstract: We test the QALY concept to evaluate the utility of therapies. The QALY is the sum of the duration of each health state a patient faces weighted by the utility the patient obtains from this state. The QALY implies linear utility functions over duration. Corresponding analyses for health-related decisions are problematic as inducing health levels is difficult. In this study, we evaluate both utilities over pain duration for a fixed pain level and over pain intensity for a fixed duration, with real health consequences, using the cold pressor test. We find that, for human decision-makers, utility over pain duration does not increase linearly over time when making health-related decisions. This suggests that the QALY might not capture preferences as intended.

Keywords: Cold pressor test; Utility function over pain; QALY; Real consequences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:131:y:2016:i:pb:p:174-182

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2015.08.009

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