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Time to disable DALYs?

On the use of disability-adjusted life-years in health policy

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Abstract

The concept of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) has rapidly gained in popularity in health policy, and considerable research resources are being allocated to this field. Proponents of DALYs suggest that the measure can be used both as a "gross domestic product of health" and to help in setting priorities in health policy. This study investigates the usefulness of DALYs and contends that DALYs, as the measure is currently understood, cannot be used for either of these two purposes. The DALYs procedure does not produce a useful measure of population health, and its use in priority setting is ethically questionable.

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Acknowledgements

This research received financial support from the Swedish Medical Research Council (grant no. K99/K2000-27P-10737-06C/07A). The research mainly took place at the Department of Community Medicine, Lund University, and Lund University Centre for Health Economics. Helpful comments from three anonymous referees, Kristina Burström, Kjeld Møller Pedersen, Erik Nord, Sören Höjgård, Björn Lindgren, Peter Martinsson, and Katarina Steen Carlsson, as well as participants at several meetings, are gratefully acknowledged.

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Correspondence to Carl Hampus Lyttkens.

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Lyttkens, C.H. Time to disable DALYs?. HEPAC 4, 195–202 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-003-0169-2

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