| | In my blog entry above, I cite a study where folks were asked what kind of minimum benefits that they'd have to receive in order to take various cold remedies. Here's a reproduction of the survey. What minimum benefits would you require if the following were all true?
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... Next, the participant was presented with 1 of the following scenarios:
A 10-cent vitamin pill must be taken 3 times daily for the first 3 days of your cold. There are no significant risks or side effects to this treatment. It is unlikely that the length of your cold would be reduced significantly. Severity of symptoms might be reduced by as much as 30%.
A 20-cent lozenge must be dissolved in the mouth every 2 to 3 hours while awake for the first 3 days of your cold. Side effects may include bad taste, and, very occasionally, nausea. It is possible that the length of the cold could be reduced slightly. Severity of symptoms might be reduced by as much as 30%.
A 50-cent dropperful of an herbal extract must be taken 3 times each day for the first 3 days of your cold. Side effects are limited to bad taste. It is possible that the length of the cold could be reduced slightly. Severity of symptoms might be reduced by as much as 30%.
A $2 prescription-only pill must be taken 3 times daily for the first 3 days of the cold. Side effects are unknown. Preliminary data suggests an average 24-hour reduction in the length of your cold. Severity of symptoms might be reduced by as much as 30%.
The scenarios were presented in varied order, so that each scenario had an approximately equal chance of being considered first, second, third, or last. After each scenario was presented, participants were asked, "Would you take this treatment?" and then, "Why?" or "Why not?" Brief notes were taken regarding the answers to these qualitative questions.
Next, participants who had answered "yes" to the original question were asked: "Would you take this [treatment] if it were able to reduce severity by 20%?" If the answer was still "yes," the hypothetical severity reduction was lowered to "10%," then if still "yes," it was lowered to "5%," and, finally, "any?"
If the original answer was "no," severity reduction benefit was increased to "40%," then if still "no," it was increased to "50%," then "75%." Severity reduction SID was defined as the smallest severity reduction that justified the treatment scenario for that participant.
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I'd take the 10-cent pill even if the hypothetical symptom severity reduction was only 5%
I'd take the 20-cent lozenge even if the hypothetical symptom severity reduction was only 10%
I'd take the 50-cent dropperful of herbal extract even if the hypothetical symptom severity reduction was only 20%
And I'd take the $2 prescription-only pill only if the hypothetical symptom severity reduction was at least 75% ($18 and unknown side effects is too much cost and risk for me to still have to weather half of a whole cold in the process!)
;-)
Ed
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