Do We Always Need a New Preference Study? A Scoping Review of Promising Research Areas for Meta-Analyses and Benefit Transfers of Patient Preference Studies.

Objectives: Although patient preference (PP) studies are costly, time intensive, and burdensome on patients, their findings are rarely used beyond the purpose of the original study. If PP study findings could be transferred to other contexts through meta-regression (benefit transfers), resources could be better utilized. We conducted a scoping review to assess the readiness of the current PP study landscape for evidence synthesis and benefit transfers.

The Evolving Landscape of Discrete Choice Experiments in Health Economics: A Systematic Review.

Introduction: Stakeholder preference evaluations are increasingly emphasized in healthcare policy and health technology assessment. Discrete choice experiments (DCEs) are the most common method for quantifying preferences among patients, the public, and healthcare professionals. While prior reviews (1990-2017) have examined DCE trends, no comprehensive synthesis exists for studies published since 2018.

What Next for the Science of Patient Preference? Interoperability, Standardization, and Transferability.

Using patient preference information (PPI) to incorporate patient voices into the drug development lifecycle can help align therapies with the needs and values of patients. However, several barriers have limited the use of PPI, including a lack of clarity on its use by decision-makers, a need for greater decision-maker trust in PPI, and a lack of time, budgets, and access to specialist expertise. The value proposition for PPI could be enhanced by making it FAIR: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.

Towards IVDR-compliance by implementing quality control steps in a quantitative extracellular vesicle-miRNA liquid biopsy assay for response monitoring in patients with classic Hodgkin lymphoma.

Previously, we showed that quantification of lymphoma-associated miRNAs miR-155-5p, -127-3p and let-7a-5p levels in plasma extracellular vesicles (EVs) report treatment response in patients with classic Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL). Prior to clinical implementation, quality control (QC) steps and validation are required to meet international regulatory standards. Most published EV-based diagnostic assays have yet to meet these requirements.

Palliative Non-Operative Management in Geriatric Hip Fracture Patients: When Would Surgeons Abstain from Surgery?

For hip fracture patients with a limited life expectancy, operative and palliative non-operative management (P-NOM) can yield similar quality of life outcomes. However, evidence on when to abstain from surgery is lacking. The aim of this study was to quantify the influence of patient characteristics on surgeons' decisions to recommend P-NOM.

Research Priorities to Increase Confidence in and Acceptance of Health Preference Research: What Questions Should be Prioritized Now?

Background And Objective: There has been an increase in the study and use of stated-preference methods to inform medicine development decisions. The objective of this study was to identify prioritized topics and questions relating to health preferences based on the perspective of members of the preference research community.

Methods: Preference research stakeholders from industry, academia, consultancy, health technology assessment/regulatory, and patient organizations were recruited using professional networks and preference-targeted e-mail listservs and surveyed about their perspectives on 19 topics and questions for future studies that would increase acceptance of preference methods and their results by decision makers.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of preoperative predictors for early mortality following hip fracture surgery.

Hip fractures are a global health problem with a high postoperative mortality rate. Preoperative predictors for early mortality could be used to optimise and personalise healthcare strategies. This study aimed to identify predictors for early mortality following hip fracture surgery.

Comparing quality of breast cancer care in the Netherlands and Norway by federated propensity score analytics.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to benchmark and compare breast cancer care quality indicators (QIs) between Norway and the Netherlands using federated analytics preventing transfer of patient-level data.

Methods: Breast cancer patients (2017-2018) were retrieved from the Netherlands Cancer Registry and the Cancer Registry of Norway. Five European Society of Breast Cancer Specialists (EUSOMA) QIs were assessed: two on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), two on surgical approaches, and one on postoperative radiotherapy.

Suitability of Preference Methods Across the Medical Product Lifecycle: A Multicriteria Decision Analysis.

Objectives: This study aimed to understand the importance of criteria describing methods (eg, duration, costs, validity, and outcomes) according to decision makers for each decision point in the medical product lifecycle (MPLC) and to determine the suitability of a discrete choice experiment, swing weighting, probabilistic threshold technique, and best-worst scale cases 1 and 2 at each decision point in the MPLC.

Methods: Applying multicriteria decision analysis, an online survey was sent to MPLC decision makers (ie, industry, regulatory, and health technology assessment representatives). They ranked and weighted 19 methods criteria from an existing performance matrix about their respective decisions across the MPLC.

Adherence to the Dutch Breast Cancer Guidelines for Surveillance in Breast Cancer Survivors: Real-World Data from a Pooled Multicenter Analysis.

Background: Regular follow-up after treatment for breast cancer is crucial to detect potential recurrences and second contralateral breast cancer in an early stage. However, information about follow-up patterns in the Netherlands is scarce.

Patients And Methods: Details concerning diagnostic procedures and policlinic visits in the first 5 years following a breast cancer diagnosis were gathered between 2009 and 2019 for 9916 patients from 4 large Dutch hospitals.

Current Practices for Accounting for Preference Heterogeneity in Health-Related Discrete Choice Experiments: A Systematic Review.

Background: Accounting for preference heterogeneity is a growing analytical practice in health-related discrete choice experiments (DCEs). As heterogeneity may be examined from different stakeholder perspectives with different methods, identifying the breadth of these methodological approaches and understanding the differences are major steps to provide guidance on good research practices.

Objectives: Our objective was to systematically summarize current practices that account for preference heterogeneity based on the published DCEs related to healthcare.

Exploring the importance of controlling heteroskedasticity and heterogeneity in health valuation: a case study on Dutch EQ-5D-5L.

Background: Respondents in a health valuation study may have different sources of error (i.e., heteroskedasticity), tastes (differences in the relative effects of each attribute level), and scales (differences in the absolute effects of all attributes).

The ICEpop Capability Measure for Adults Instrument for Capabilities: Development of a Tariff for the Dutch General Population.

Objectives: The ICEpop Capability Measure for Adults (ICECAP-A) assesses 5 capabilities (stability, attachment, autonomy, achievement, and enjoyment) that are important to one's quality of life and might be an important addition to generic health questionnaires currently used in economic evaluations. This study aimed to develop a Dutch tariff of the Dutch translation of the ICECAP-A.

Methods: The methods used are similar to those used in the development of the UK tariff.

Comparing Modeling Approaches for Discrete Event Simulations With Competing Risks Based on Censored Individual Patient Data: A Simulation Study and Illustration in Colorectal Cancer.

Objectives: This study aimed to provide detailed guidance on modeling approaches for implementing competing events in discrete event simulations based on censored individual patient data (IPD).

Methods: The event-specific distributions (ESDs) approach sampled times from event-specific time-to-event distributions and simulated the first event to occur. The unimodal distribution and regression approach sampled a time from a combined unimodal time-to-event distribution, representing all events, and used a (multinomial) logistic regression model to select the event to be simulated.

Diagnostics in Patients Suspect for Breast Cancer in The Netherlands.

The goal of this study was to describe the variation in hospital-based diagnostic care activities for patients with symptomatology suspect for breast cancer in The Netherlands. Two cohorts were included: the 'benign' cohort (30,334 women suspected of, but without breast cancer) and the 'malignant' cohort (2236 breast cancer patients). Hospital-based financial data was combined with tumor data (malignant cohort) from The Netherlands Cancer Registry.

Continuous vital sign monitoring using a wearable patch sensor in obese patients: a validation study in a clinical setting.

Our aim was to determine the agreement of heart rate (HR) and respiratory rate (RR) measurements by the Philips Biosensor with a reference monitor (General Electric Carescape B650) in severely obese patients during and after bariatric surgery. Additionally, sensor reliability was assessed. Ninety-four severely obese patients were monitored with both the Biosensor and reference monitor during and after bariatric surgery.

The ICECAP-A instrument for capabilities: assessment of construct validity and test-retest reliability in a general Dutch population.

Purpose: The ICEpop CAPability measure for Adults (ICECAP-A) assesses five capabilities that are important to one's well-being. The instrument might be an important addition to generic health questionnaires when evaluating quality of life extending beyond health. This study aimed to conduct a psychometric assessment of the Dutch translation of the ICECAP-A.

Preferences of Treatment Strategies among Women with Low-Risk DCIS and Oncologists.

As ongoing trials study the safety of an active surveillance strategy for low-risk ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), there is a need to explain why particular choices regarding treatment strategies are made by eligible women as well as their oncologists, what factors enter the decision process, and how much each factor affects their choice. To measure preferences for treatment and surveillance strategies, women with newly-diagnosed, primary low-risk DCIS enrolled in the Dutch CONTROL DCIS Registration and LORD trial, and oncologists participating in the Dutch Health Professionals Study were invited to complete a discrete choice experiment (DCE). The relative importance of treatment strategy-related attributes (locoregional intervention, 10-year risk of ipsilateral invasive breast cancer (iIBC), and follow-up interval) were discerned using conditional logit models.

Improved risk estimation of locoregional recurrence, secondary contralateral tumors and distant metastases in early breast cancer: the INFLUENCE 2.0 model.

Purpose: To extend the functionality of the existing INFLUENCE nomogram for locoregional recurrence (LRR) of breast cancer toward the prediction of secondary primary tumors (SP) and distant metastases (DM) using updated follow-up data and the best suitable statistical approaches.

Methods: Data on women diagnosed with non-metastatic invasive breast cancer were derived from the Netherlands Cancer Registry (n = 13,494). To provide flexible time-dependent individual risk predictions for LRR, SP, and DM, three statistical approaches were assessed; a Cox proportional hazard approach (COX), a parametric spline approach (PAR), and a random survival forest (RSF).

Extracellular vesicle miRNA predict FDG-PET status in patients with classical Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Minimally-invasive tools to assess tumour presence and burden may improve clinical management. FDG-PET (metabolic) imaging is the current gold standard for interim response assessment in patients with classical Hodgkin Lymphoma (cHL), but this technique cannot be repeated frequently. Here we show that microRNAs (miRNA) associated with tumour-secreted extracellular vesicles (EVs) in the circulation of cHL patients may improve response assessment.

Public Preferences in Priority Setting when Admitting Patients to the ICU During the COVID-19 Crisis: A Pilot Study.

Introduction: One of the challenges faced by hospitals during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is resource shortages in intensive care units (ICUs). In times of scarcity, patient prioritization based on non-medical considerations might be necessary.

Objective: The aim of this study was to pilot test a survey to elicit public opinions on the relative importance of non-medical considerations in priority setting when admitting patients to the ICU in times of crisis.

Postpartum depression and anxiety: a community-based study on risk factors before, during and after pregnancy.

Background: Depression and anxiety occur frequently postpartum, calling for early detection and treatment. Evidence on risk factors may support early detection, but is inconclusive. Our aim was to identify risk factors for postpartum depression and anxiety, before, during and after pregnancy.

Applying Risk-Based Follow-Up Strategies on the Dutch Breast Cancer Population: Consequences for Care and Costs.

Objectives: An important aim of follow-up after primary breast cancer treatment is early detection of locoregional recurrences (LRR). This study compares 2 personalized follow-up scheme simulations based on LRR risk predictions provided by a time-dependent prognostic model for breast cancer LRR and quantifies their possible follow-up efficiency.

Methods: Surgically treated early patients with breast cancer between 2003 and 2008 were selected from the Netherlands Cancer Registry.

Evaluating the Age-Based Recommendations for Long-Term Follow-Up in Breast Cancer.

Background: After 5 years of annual follow-up following breast cancer, Dutch guidelines are age based: annual follow-up for women <60 years, 60-75 years biennial, and none for >75 years. We determined how the risk of recurrence corresponds to these consensus-based recommendations and to the risk of primary breast cancer in the general screening population.

Subjects, Materials, And Methods: Women with early-stage breast cancer in 2003/2005 were selected from the Netherlands Cancer Registry (n = 18,568).