How patients’ socioeconomic status (SES) influences their preferences for aggressive versus conservative medical treatments.

Dr Jill Lei, 27 August 2025: Dr Jill Lei shares key findings of her healthcare research which reveals that patients with lower SES are more likely to choose aggressive treatments—often due to greater uncertainty avoidance and heightened perceptions of risk—while higher SES individuals may also prefer aggressive options, but for different reasons, such as the value they place on life and expected outcomes.