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Relationship between utility values and willingness to pay in patients undergoing orthognathic treatment
1Orthodontic Department, Eastman Dental Institute, University College London, UK. S.Cunningham@eastman.ucl.ac.uk
Objective:
To determine utility and willingness to pay (WTP) values for patients undergoing orthognathic treatment in a National Health Service hospital in the United Kingdom and to establish whether WTP values can be used as a measure of strength of preference.
Participants:
Forty patients who were about to start orthognathic treatment were recruited over a 10-month period between January and October 1998.
Outcome Measures:
Utility values were obtained using the standard gamble method and WTP values were determined using a payment card method. The relationship between the two was assessed.
Results:
The mean utility value was 0.73 and the mean WTP was 6,833 pounds. The correlation between these two measures was -0.46 (P<0.01).
Conclusions:
The correlation between the utility and WTP values was in the expected direction thus suggesting that WTP may be used as a measure of strength of preference. Therefore, willingness to pay may be a useful technique to combine with cost utility analysis.