Table 1 Standard gamble utilities (range 0 = dead 1 = health state without treatment side effects or recurrence of melanoma) for health states in our study and in Kilbridge et al. [7]

(A) IFN-α 2b treatment without side effects

Treatment involves: 1 month of daily intravenous IFN administration; 11 months of 3 self-administrations of IFN per week; medication for fever prevention; 12 blood tests. No side effects

(B) IFN-α 2b treatment with mild-to-moderate side effects

Treatment as in scenario A. Side effects similar to a flu (e.g., nausea, headache, fatigue) leading to impairments such as spending a little more time resting

(C) IFN-α 2b treatment with mild-to-moderate side effects and laboratory side effects

Treatment as in scenario A. Side effects as in scenario B. Serious abnormalities in blood tests leading to dose reduction and possibly to termination of treatment without reduction of effectiveness

(D) IFN-α 2b treatment with severe side effects

Treatment as in scenario A. Side effects as in scenario B, but with at least one episode of severe side effects similar to a bad flu (e.g., very high fever, frequent vomiting, depression and suicidal ideation) leading to impairments such as inability to do even light chores. Dose reduction and possibly termination of treatment without reduction of effectiveness

(E) Recurrence and death from melanoma after previous IFN-α 2b treatment

Recurrence of melanoma after having completed 12 month treatment. Symptoms lead to impairment such as spending a little more time resting. Later, symptoms increase progressively, leading to death from melanoma

(F) Recurrence and death from melanoma without previous IFN-α 2b treatment

As in scenario E, but without having received previous treatment for melanoma