Health-Adjusted Life Year

Introduction[edit | edit source]

Health-Adjusted Life Years are a measurement of the health of a population, typically used in estimates of the burden of disease.

HALYs are used to measure the combined effects of mortality and morbidity in populations; they permit comparisons between illnesses or interventions as well as between populations[1]

They are commonly used to compare the cost-effectiveness of different health interventions.

Calculation of HALY[edit | edit source]

The two most common ways of measuring HALYs are:

Function/Uses of HALYs[edit | edit source]

HALYs are based on the latest available epidemiological data. The accuracy and usefulness of the HALY measurement depends on the completeness and accuracy of the data used.

Data can be taken from a variety of sources including:

  • census and national surveillance data
  • hospital records
  • surveys (e.g. road safety surveys or health surveys)
  • police records
  • mortuary records
  • death certificate information

Ideally the data should all be recent, locally derived and disaggregated by age and sex.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. Gold, MR, Stevenson D, Fryback DG. HALYs and QALYs and DALYs, Oh My: similarities and differences in summary measures of population Health. Annu Rev Public Health, 2002; 23:115-34