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To assess the utility of the health state “treated with warfarin, experienced side effects, has had cardiovascular accident, unaffected afterwards” (see figure 1) in a 75-year-old woman
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| The patient is asked to choose between 2 alternatives: living in the health state in question until age 80, or living in perfect health for a shorter time. The options are presented on laminated sheets, and the age to which the patient could live in perfect health is varied until she is unable to choose between the 2 alternatives. Let us suppose that she regards living until age 77 in perfect health as “equivalent to” living until age 80 in the health state in question—that is, she would be willing to give up 3 of her remaining 5 years of life to have perfect health. Utility of the health state in question is then calculated as: |
| 1-[number of years willing to give up/(80 - current age)] |
| This would be 1 - (3/5)=0.4, with 0.4 representing the value that this patient places on this state of health |
