Eliciting trade-offs between population health and environmental outcomes: A pilot study

<b>Objectives: </b>The aim of this study was to investigate whether it is possible to elicit how United Kingdom (UK) public citizens might trade off human health and environmental outcomes.<br /> <b>Methods: </b>Using a representative adult population, a discrete choice experiment (DCE) was conducted on criteria impacting trade-off decisions between human health and environmental outcomes. Respondents were asked to make twelve choices that included four attributes: the impact on UK life expectancy, the impact on biodiversity, the impact on UK carbon emissions and location of environmental impacts. Data were analyzed using a conditional logit regression model.<br /> <b>Results: </b>508 respondents completed the survey. A DCE found UK public citizens are willing to forgo human health to reduce environmental harm.<br /> <b>Conclusions: </b>This research demonstrated it is possible to elicit the public’s view about trade-offs between health and the environment. Moreover, the public is willing to forgo human health to reduce environmental impact, propounding the importance of healthcare sustainability.