Patients’ and professionals’ preferences in terms of the attributes of home enteral nutrition products in Spain. A discrete choice experiment

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: To elicit and compare preferences in terms of the attributes of home enteral nutrition (HEN) among patients and physicians, using a discrete choice experiment (DCE). SUBJECTS/METHODS: A DCE comprising eight choice scenarios, with six HEN attributes (tolerability, adaptation to comorbidities, nutrition and calories, handling, connections and information; two levels each) was designed. The Relative Importance (RI) for patients and physicians of each attribute was estimated. Sociodemographic and clinical variables, as well as additional questions (n = 8) were compiled to analyze possible explanatory variables and other preferences. RESULTS: A total of 148 HEN patients (71 needing caregivers to answer on their behalf) and 114 physicians completed the DCE. The most important attributes for patients were adaptation to comorbidities (33% RI), tolerability (33% RI), and nutrition and calories (26% RI). Significantly, younger patients had stronger preferences for tolerability whereas elderly ones (≥75 years) were more concerned about handling. In comparison, physicians gave a higher RI to tolerability, and nutrition and calories compared to patients (p = 0.002). Overall, a higher percentage of physicians answered that HEN characteristics such as easy-handling bags (85.1 vs. 64.9%; p = 0.001), container material (69.3 vs. 57.1%; p = 0.003) or reusable containers (79.8 vs. 70.3%; p = 0.01) were “important” or “very important” compared to patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings showed that although patients and physicians have a similar perception about the relevance of different HEN attributes, the relative weight given to each one varies between them. Therefore, both points of view should be considered when choosing a HEN product in order to improve patients’ satisfaction and clinical outcomes.