Quantifying the utility of taking pills for preventing adverse health outcomes: a cross-sectional survey

OBJECTIVES The utility value attributed to taking pills for prevention can have a major effect on the cost-effectiveness of interventions, but few published studies have systematically quantified this value. We sought to quantify the utility value of taking pills used for prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD). DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. SETTING Central North Carolina. PARTICIPANTS 708 healthcare employees aged 18 years and older. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOMES Utility values for taking 1 pill/day, assessed using time trade-off, modified standard gamble and willingness-to-pay methods. RESULTS Mean age of respondents was 43 years (19-74). The majority of the respondents were female (83%) and Caucasian (80%). Most (80%) took at least 2 pills/day. Mean utility values for taking 1 pill/day using the time trade-off method were: 0.9972 (95% CI 0.9962 to 0.9980). Values derived from the standard gamble and willingness-to-pay methods were 0.9967 (0.9954 to 0.9979) and 0.9989 (95% CI 0.9986 to 0.9991), respectively. Utility values varied little across characteristics such as age, sex, race, education level or number of pills taken per day. CONCLUSIONS The utility value of taking pills daily in order to prevent an adverse CVD health outcome is approximately 0.997.