The utility of health at different stages in life: A quantitative approach

Jan J.V. Busschbach*, Dick J. Hessing, Frank Th De Charro

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

86 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Thirty students and thirty-five elderly people compared the quality of life of imaginary patients of different ages suffering from end-stage renal disease. By manipulating the time the imaginary patients had to be on a transplantation waiting list, the utility of health at different periods of life could be compared. Except for the very young, respondents found health in the early periods of life to be twice as important as in the last decade of life. Health at age 35 had an utility somewhere between these two extremes. The responses of the elderly people showed remarkable resemblance to the students' responses, suggesting that the results reflect a general ethical standard. The values found were tested by means of a factorial design and found to fulfill the qualifications of an interval scale.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)153-158
Number of pages6
JournalSocial Science and Medicine
Volume37
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 1993

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 1993 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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