Browsing by Author "Ng, Sean"

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    The associations between prognostic awareness and health-related quality of life among patients with advanced cancer: A systematic review.
    (Palliative medicine, 2023-06) Ng, Sean; Ozdemir, Semra

    Background

    Prognostic awareness among patients with advanced cancer is important for better palliative and end-of-life care. However, the relationships between prognostic awareness and patient health-related quality of life outcomes remain inconsistent across studies. Critically synthesizing empirical literature will allow for a better understanding of these associations.

    Aim

    To investigate the associations between prognostic awareness and health-related quality of life outcomes among patients with advanced cancer.

    Design

    This study was a systematic review, prospectively registered on PROSPERO (CRD42020177228).

    Data sources

    Seven databases (PubMed/Medline, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane Central, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Web of Science) were searched in March 2022. Cross-sectional and longitudinal empirical studies in English were included regardless of cancer type or publication date.

    Results

    We identified 1338 articles and included 36 for review. A substantial proportion of patients remained prognostically unaware (50%). Prognostic awareness was either not significantly associated (48%) or associated with worsened (40%) outcomes. These associations were found to vary (e.g., be differently associated with improved, worsened, or non-significant health-related quality of life outcomes) based on the definition of prognostic awareness used and the population sampled (Asian vs Western). Few structured, validated questionnaires were used and only three studies investigated how the associations evolved over time.

    Conclusions

    To facilitate better understanding of the relationships between prognostic awareness and health-related quality of life, future research must focus on developing a standardized, "gold standard" measurement of prognostic awareness. Research should also examine the influence of culture and the evolution of these relationships longitudinally.
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    ItemOpen Access
    Trade-Offs between Vaccine Effectiveness and Vaccine Safety: Personal versus Policy Decisions.
    (PharmacoEconomics - open, 2023-10) Ozdemir, Semra; Ng, Sean; Huynh, Vinh Anh; Mühlbacher, Axel; Tan, Hiang Khoon; Finkelstein, Eric Andrew

    Objective

    We aimed to investigate whether individuals' trade-offs between vaccine effectiveness and vaccine safety vary if they are asked to consider the perspective of a policymaker making decisions for others compared with the decisions they would make for themselves.

    Method

    A web-enabled discrete choice experiment survey was administered between 1 April and 1 May 2022 to participants recruited from the general population of two Southeast Asian countries (Indonesia and Vietnam). In each country, 500 participants were randomly assigned to make decisions regarding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines for others as a policymaker or in a personal capacity for their own use. Vaccines were characterized by three attributes: (1) effectiveness of the vaccine in reducing infection rate; (2) effectiveness of the vaccine in reducing hospitalization among those infected; and (3) risk of death from vaccine-related serious adverse events. A mixed logit model was utilized for analyses.

    Results

    Based on the attributes and levels used in this study, the most important vaccine attribute was the risk of death from vaccine-related adverse events, followed by effectiveness in reducing infection rate and hospitalizations. Compared with personal decisions, the mean probability of choosing a vaccine was (1) lower, and (2) more sensitive to the changes in risk of death from adverse events in policy decisions (p ≤ 0.01).

    Conclusions and relevance

    Our results suggest that, in the face of an infectious disease pandemic, individuals are likely to be more risk-averse to vaccine-related deaths when making decisions for others as a policymaker than they would for themselves.