Trading Years for Perfect Health: Results From the Health and Retirement Study

Objective: To evaluate the preferences of an ethnically diverse national sample of older Americans regarding length of life versus health quality. Method: A time trade-off task administered as part of the 2002 wave of the Health and Retirement Study. Results: Respondents equated 6.86 (SD = 3.46) years of perfect health with 10 years of life in imperfect health. Women and those who ranked their health less favorably were more likely to give up years of life for perfect health. Relative to Whites, Blacks were more willing to live longer in imperfect health. Those of lower levels of education were more likely to prefer 10 years of life in imperfect health. Discussion: There is wide variability in responses to the time trade-off task that is partially associated with self-rated health, gender, ethnicity, and education.