ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE Evaluation of Patient Preference and Willingness to Pay for Attributes of Maintenance Medication for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. COPD is characterized by poor treatment adherence, and patient medication preferences may con-tribute to adherence. Methods A discrete choice experiment with an internet panel drawn from the USA was used to evaluate preference and willingness to pay (WTP) of COPD patients for long-acting maintenance medications. Key attributes derived from earlier qualitative research (brief literature review and focus groups) with COPD patients on maintenance therapy included symptom relief, speed of feeling medication start to work, inhaler ease of use, rescue medication use, sid