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Article History

Received: 26 April 2021

Accepted: 9 December 2021

First Online: 4 January 2022

Declarations

:

: Ethics approval was not applicable. The study was designed and approved by the scientific board (all members are authors of the present paper). This study was not about specific treatments or diagnostic tests and could not be classified according to the typical distinction between experimental and observational study. Participants (doctors and patients) were only interviewed through a questionnaire aimed at eliciting their preferences about different care path options and about therapy options, most of them hypothetical and not corresponding to a real available option. For this reason, the study protocol and the questionnaire were not submitted to ethical committee of institutional board for approval. Before obtaining answers from participants, informed consent was obtained from all subjects, which were all above 18. The study design and the main data-analysis was conducted according to Good Research Practices for Conjoint Analysis applications in health (Bridges et al. 2011). In addition, conjoint analysis was performed by means of a specific and certified software (Sawtooth Software Lighthouse Studio).

: Not applicable.

: MA received grants from Merck Sharp & Dhome, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, Abbvie, and Janssen-Cilag, and fees for board membership from Merck Sharp & Dhome, Gilead Sciences, ViiV Healthcare, Abbvie. NC declares grants from ViiV Healthcare, Janssen-Cilag and Gilead Science and personal fees from Gilead Sciences, Abbvie, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Correvio and Merk-Sharp & Dohme, Angelini. AM declares grants from Gilead Sciences, Merck Sharp & Dhome, and Intercept. AC, SF, IG, FAN, and PP declare no relevant conflict of interest.