Risk attitudes of anesthesiologists and surgeons in clinical decision making with expected years of life

Study Objective: To understand anesthesiologists' and surgeons' risk attitudes about expected years of life. Design: Prospective study. Setting: Central operating rooms (ORs) in a university hospital. Respondents: 122 anesthesiologists and surgeons. Measurements and Main Results: A 7-page survey questionnaire regarding the length of survival and the choice of treatments was sent to 122 physicians. Certainty equivalents and Arrow-Pratt coefficients of absolute risk aversion (APC) were calculated from the survey. Of 122 physicians, 93 responded (38 anesthesiologists and 55 surgeons; response rare 76.2%). There was no significant difference in risk attitudes between the anesthesiologists and the surgeons. Their age was a statistically significant predictor of the risk attitudes: the older they were, the greater their APCs were (i.e., the more risk averse they were). There was no significant difference between gentler in risk attitudes, nor was there arty significant difference between the risk attitudes of becoming patients and those of working in the OR. Conclusions: Physicians' risk attitudes cannot De predicted Dy their specialties or gender However, the older they are, the more risk-averse they are.