OBJECTIVES: New medications for metastatic breast cancer (MBC) can be of great benefit to patients, but these medicines also increase expenditures. Cost-utility analyses (CUAs) are needed to allocate health resources properly, and health utility values are required to calculate quality-adjusted life years in those CUAs. This study aimed to measure health utility values for several MBC-related health states and certain breast cancer treatment-related grade 3/4 adverse drug reactions (ADRs). In addition, we examined whether different methods and respondents’ characteristics would influence the utility values elicited.

METHODS: Convenience sampling was used to recruit patients at a three-hundred-bed regional hospital in Northern Taiwan. The visual analogue scale (VAS) and time trade-off (TTO) methods were used to measure health utilities. Four MBC and nine ADR health states were selected for evaluation based on literature review and expert opinion. Information about respondents’ demographic and clinical characteristics was also collected.

RESULTS: A total of 102 patients participated in this study. The TTO-elicited values were higher than the VAS-derived scores except for two MBC-related health states. The TTO preference score ranged from 0.04 (palliative MBC) to 0.62 (responding MBC). For ADRs, the mean TTO-derived utility values ranged from 0.35 (nausea/vomiting) to 0.79 (fatigue). The ranking of the preference scores derived from the VAS was similar to that of the TTO-elicited scores. In general, utility values were higher in respondents who had a higher level of education and were lowest in those whose household income was ≤ NTD 30,000 per month. Moreover, respondents who were married were observed to have higher utility values in all MBC states than those who were not.

CONCLUSIONS: This study obtained health state utility values for MBC and grade 3/4 ADRs using both the TTO and the VAS, which provides useful data for future CUAs.