About the Authors

Daniel M. Frendl

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Resources, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

dfrendl@mgh.harvard.edu

Affiliations Department of Urology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States of America, Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, United States of America

Gordon FitzGerald

Roles Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Surgery Center for Outcomes Research, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, United States of America

Mara M. Epstein

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, United States of America, Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, United States of America, Meyers Primary Care Institute, Worcester, MA, United States of America

Jeroan J. Allison

Roles Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, United States of America

Mitchell H. Sokoloff

Roles Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Urology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, United States of America

John E. Ware

Roles Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, United States of America, John Ware Research Group, Watertown, MA, United States of America

Competing Interests

JW received unrestricted research grants from British American Tobacco (Investments) Limited for smoking-related quality of life research which did not fund this work. JW also discloses employment by John Ware Research Group, a commercial company. The other authors have no other competing interests. These disclosures do not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products associated with this research to declare.