Women’ S Preferences for Prenatal Diagnostic Tests in China

Abstract

Prenatal tests can be used for early diagnosis of fetal problems and prevention of abnormal birth in high-risk pregnancies. Several types of diagnostic tests are available, among which some are more accurate than others. However, in rare situations, these tests result in miscarriage, even when the baby is healthy. Moreover, there is little information about women’s preferences toward different attributes of those tests. Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) is a preference elicitation technique that can be used to quantify the trade-offs that individuals are willing to make among different attributes of a product or service (e.g. diagnostic test). Using DCE, we can estimate the relative impact of treatment attributes on patients’ choices. This study will extend our current understanding of patients’ preferences for benefits, risks, and cost of prenatal diagnostic tests. This study offers a systematic method to incorporate woman’ opinions in the choice of prenatal diagnostic tests and therefore, can be a useful tool in patient-centered outcome research. The results of this study can inform decisions about evaluation of current and new prenatal diagnostic tests. With the guide of my mentors, I have undertaken two studies towards creating a deeper understanding of the women’s preference for prenatal diagnostic tests. The two studies investigate the important factors related to patients’ preferences and their willingness-to-pay for various prenatal screening tests. The first paper addresses women’s preference for prenatal diagnostic tests using a DCE. The second paper aims to understand variation in women’s preferences for prenatal diagnostic tests by using a latent class analysis of choice data.