Diagnostic tests allow better informed medical decisions when there is uncertainty about a patient’s health status and, therefore, about the desirability to undertake treatment. This paper studies the relation between the expected value of diagnostic information and a patient's risk aversion. We show that the ex ante value of diagnostic information increases with risk aversion for diseases with low prevalence, but decreases with risk aversion for diseases with high prevalence. On the other hand, the ex post value of diagnostic information always increases with the patient's degree of risk aversion.

中文翻译：

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风险规避和诊断测试的价值

当不确定患者的健康状况，因此不确定是否需要进行治疗时，诊断测试可为您提供更明智的医疗决策。本文研究了诊断信息的期望值与患者风险规避之间的关系。我们显示诊断信息的事前价值随患病率低的疾病的风险规避而增加，而随患病率高的疾病的风险规避而降低。另一方面，诊断信息的事后价值总是随着患者的风险规避程度而增加。