Understanding people’s preferences for tests used to subtype a treatable cause of high blood pressure

CHE RESEARCH BITES

By Maame Esi Woode

28 September, 2026

New findings suggest that offering simpler, affordable testing options could help more people get diagnosed and treated appropriately, without replacing specialist tests when they are truly needed.

These findings arose from a study of more than 580 Australians with high blood pressure. Specifically, some people with high blood pressure have a condition called primary aldosteronism (PA), which can sometimes be cured if the right treatment is chosen. To decide on treatment, clinicians use tests to find out whether one or both adrenal glands are causing the problem. The standard test is accurate but invasive, and costly with long wait times. Newly proposed options are quicker and less invasive but may be slightly less accurate.

Our study asked the sample of 580 Australians which type of test they would prefer to determine their PA subtype, out of three options: the standard hospital procedure known as the adrenal vein sampling, a PET-CT scan, and a computer‑based assessment using existing medical information.

Overall, people preferred tests that were faster, less invasive, had fewer side effects, and cost less. While accuracy was important, many were willing to accept slightly lower accuracy in exchange for convenience and lower cost. When out‑of‑pocket costs were introduced, interest in invasive tests dropped sharply, and the simple computer‑based approach was the most popular.

Woode ME, Chong W, Ng E, Lu-Shirzad S, Gwini SM, Fuller PJ, Yang J, Chen G. Preferences for Subtyping Primary Aldosteronism: A Discrete Choice Experiment. J Endocr Soc. 2025 Nov 22;10(3):bvaf185. doi:10.1210/jendso/bvaf185.

Find out more about the Economic behaviour, incentives and preferences in health research theme.

CHE Research Bites are short, easy-to-understand summaries of our recent academic papers highlighting new evidence and insights on topical issues in the health and healthcare sectors.

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