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In conclusion, the
use of utilities provides a valuable method for assessing and
incorporating quality of life for decision making at the clinical
and health policy levels. Utilities provide a common metric that
allows comparison across disparate health states. They can be
used as quality-weighting factors to estimate quality-adjusted
life years for cost-effectiveness analysis. In addition, many
individuals find that going through the process of utility elicitation
per se is valuable in that it prompts them to think explicitly
about tradeoffs in a way that they may not have thought about
previously. In future research, investigators using utilities
might focus their efforts on previously understudied groups and
on new approaches to utility assessment.
Acknowledgements:
Views expressed are
those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Department
of Veterans Affairs.
Dr. Goldstein's work
was informed in part by NIH/NIA R01 AG15110.
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