PAR14: ASSESSMENT OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DISEASE SEVERITY, QUALITY OF LIFE AND WILLINGNESS TO PAY IN ASTHMA

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The primary objective was to evaluate the relationship between willingness to pay (WTP), quality of life (QOL), and disease severity measures in asthma patients. The hypothesis studied was that asthma patients with more severe disease, as measured objectively via forced expiratory volume percent predicted (FEV1%), are willing to pay more for a hypothetical cure from asthma than those with less severe disease. METHODS: One-hundred asthmatic patients were recruited from community pharmacies in Kentucky for 30 minute face-to-face interviews. Spirometry was used to assess objective disease severity while a multiple choice question assessed subjective disease severity. The Short Form 36 (SF-36) and Asthma Technology of Patient Experience (Asthma TyPE) measured QOL. WTP was obtained via a dichotomous choice contingent valuation question. RESULTS: WTP was significantly related to both objective disease severity (p = 0.02) and subjectively assessed disease severity (p = 0.01). For objective disease severity the mean monthly WTP was $90 for mild asthma, $131 for moderate asthma and $331 for severe asthma; and for subjective disease severity the mean monthly WTP was $48 for mild asthma, $166 for moderate asthma and $241 for severe asthma. A majority of the QOL measures were correlated with WTP. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the WTP for a cure from asthma is related to both objective and subjective disease severity.