Health Values of Hospitalized Patients 80 Years or Older

Most patients were unwilling to trade much time for excellent health, but preferences varied greatly, and patients willing to trade less time for better health were more likely to want resuscitation and other measures to extend life.

Abstract

Very old hospitalized patients who could be interviewed were able, in most cases, to have their health values assessed using the time-trade-off technique. Most patients were unwilling to trade much time for excellent health, but preferences varied greatly. Because proxies and multivariable analyses cannot gauge health values of elderly hospitalized patients accurately, health values of the very old should be elicited directly from the patient.