OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to elicit patients’ preferences for the pharmaceutical treatment of osteoarthritis (OA), using an Adaptive Choice-Based Conjoint (ACBC) method, and assess the contribution of the ACBC to facilitate the shared decision-making (SDM) process.

METHODS: Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) group based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was founded to design the ACBC questionnaire including 10 attributes and 34 levels. The ACBC questionnaire was developed in Arabic language using Sawtooth Software Lighthouse Studio version 9.13.1, and its built-in Hierarchical Bayesian (HB) analysis was used to estimate the relative importance of the attributes and the part-worth (utilities) of the levels. Z score was used to standardize the obtained results. Descriptive statistics were used to report patients’ responses regarding the ACBC contribution to the SDM process.

RESULTS: In 1030 Arab patients (83.6% over the age of 50 years, 83.4% females) the combined relative importance of four medications side effects attributes (risk of kidney and liver impairment, heart attacks and strokes, addiction, and gastric ulcer) was nearly 66% compared to just over 6% for the two benefit attributes (pain reduction, and mobility improvement). The “Way of taking the medicine” attribute had the highest coefficient of variation (0.70) whereas the side effects attribute had the low coefficient of variation (0.18-0.21). Five-hundreds participants completed the SDM questionnaire. Over 92% of participants agreed or strongly agreed that ACBC contribute to preferences’ prediction and SDM process. The remaining participants neither agreed nor disagreed.

CONCLUSIONS: ACBC is a useful method to elicit patients’ preferences, can be used in languages other than English, and can contribute to the SDM process. OA Arab patients prefer prescribed medications over internet purchased and over the counter medication. Arab OA patients’ preference for OA medications is consistently driven by avoidance of medications’ side effects despite the potential benefits.