HALYs and QALYs and DALYs, Oh My: Similarities and Differences in Summary Measures of Population Health
- 1 May 2002
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Annual Reviews in Annual Review of Public Health
- Vol. 23 (1), 115-134
- https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.23.100901.140513
Abstract
▪ Abstract Health-adjusted life years (HALYs) are population health measures permitting morbidity and mortality to be simultaneously described within a single number. They are useful for overall estimates of burden of disease, comparisons of the relative impact of specific illnesses and conditions on communities, and in economic analyses. Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) are types of HALYs whose original purposes were at variance. Their growing importance and the varied uptake of the methodology by different U.S. and international entities makes it useful to understand their differences as well as their similarities. A brief history of both measures is presented and methods for calculating them are reviewed. Methodological and ethical issues that have been raised in association with HALYs more generally are presented. Finally, we raise concerns about the practice of using different types of HALYs within different decision-making contexts and urge action that builds and clarifies this useful measurement field.Keywords
This publication has 50 references indexed in Scilit:
- Measure-Dependent Variation in Burden of Disease EstimatesMedical Care, 2002
- Time-tradeoff Values and Standard-gamble Utilities Assessed during Telephone Interviews versus Face-to-face InterviewsMedical Decision Making, 1998
- Toward Consistency in Cost-Utility AnalysesMedical Care, 1998
- QALYs and ethics: A health economist's perspectiveSocial Science & Medicine (1982), 1996
- Multi-Attribute Preference FunctionsPharmacoEconomics, 1995
- EuroQol - a new facility for the measurement of health-related quality of lifeHealth Policy, 1990
- Attitudes to chemotherapy: comparing views of patients with cancer with those of doctors, nurses, and general public.BMJ, 1990
- Life: quality, value and justiceHealth Policy, 1988
- Describing Health StatesMedical Care, 1984
- The utility of different health states as perceived by the general publicJournal of Chronic Diseases, 1978