Patient, physician, and general population preferences for treatment characteristics in relapsed or refractory...

Due to the disease heterogeneity, treatments for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) have differed with respect to efficacy and toxicity. Limited options have also been available regarding modalities of administration. Our study objective was to estimate preferences for treatment characteristics (or "attributes") in relapsed/refractory (r/r) CLL. Patients, physicians (hematologists/oncologists), and members from the general population from Germany and Sweden completed a conjoint analysis comprising six CLL treatment attributes: (i) overall survival (OS), (ii) progression-free survival (PFS), (iii) fatigue, (iv) nausea, (v) risk of serious infections, and (vi) treatment administration (each described in three levels). We estimated the relative importance of each attribute by fitting a hierarchical Bayesian model. A total of 190 German and 121 Swedish individuals participated. In the pooled sample, OS was the most important attribute (36%), followed by risk of serious infection (21%), treatment administration (13%), fatigue (12%), PFS (11%), and nausea (7%). Treatment administration was more important to patients (all p<0.004), OS was more important to physicians (all p<0.001), and risk of serious infections was more important to the general population than to physicians (p<0.001). Our results could be helpful to align therapeutic decision-making in r/r CLL with patient preferences to improve care satisfaction and treatment compliance.