Disability adjusted life years (dalys), Biology

Assignment Help:

Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs)

DALYs is a measure for the overall ‘burden of disease’. Originally developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), it is being increasingly used in the literature on public health. It is designed to quantify the impact of premature death and disability on a population by combining them into a single measure. Traditionally, health liabilities were expressed using one measure: expected or average number of ‘years of life lost’ (YLL). This measure does not take the impact of disability into account, which can be expressed as years lived with disability (YLD). DALYs are calculated by taking the sum of these two components: i.e., years of life lost plus years lost to disability or DALY = YLL + YLD.

The basic method of computing the DALYs is as follows. Suppose N is the number of deaths in a certain population and L is the standard life expectancy at age of death in years, then YLL = N * L (where the symbol * stands for multiplication). Because YLL measures the incident on the stream of lost years of life due to deaths, an incidence perspective is also taken for the calculation of YLD. To estimate YLD for a particular cause in a particular time period, the number of incident cases in that period is multiplied by the average duration of the disease and a weight factor that reflects the severity of the disease on a scale from 0 (perfect health) to 1 (dead). If ‘I’ is the number of incident cases, DW the disability weight and L the average duration of the case until remission or death (in years), then YLD = I * DW * L.


Looking at the burden of disease in terms of DALYs can reveal surprising things about a population’s health. For example, a 1990 WHO report indicated that 5 of the 10 leading causes of disability were psychiatric conditions. Psychiatric and neurologic conditions account for 28 per cent of all years lived with disability. Thus, psychiatric disorders, while generally not seen as a major epidemiological problem, are revealed by consideration of disability years to have a huge impact on populations.

Both the methods, QALY and DALY, are critiqued for their drawbacks. It is pointed out that studies using QALY as an indicator of health measures the benefits from a health programme in terms of the increment in health status over the period for which the intervention was effective. Thus, the QALY methodology inherently assumes that the entire change in the health status of an individual, before and after the implementation of the programme, can be attributed solely to the programme in question. However, non medical factors like income and education also contribute to the effect (i.e. impact on health) of a programme. Decisions regarding the inter-sectoral allocation of resources, which make the resources available to one sector at the cost of the other, are important from the policy angle. On the one hand, there is a possibility of improvement in the health status of individuals owing to increase in public expenditure on health programmes. On the other hand, such a policy choice will have an adverse effect on health owing to reduction in the allocation of funds for education, sanitation, etc. The measures, QALY and DALY, by disregarding the influence of such factors do not help in analysing the effectiveness of such a policy choice.


Related Discussions:- Disability adjusted life years (dalys)

Species diversity-structure of community, Species diversity An importan...

Species diversity An important attribute of a community is its species diversity. The diversity is calculated both by the number of species (richness) and the relative abundanc

Xylem transfer cells, Xylem transfer cells The lateral transport of io...

Xylem transfer cells The lateral transport of ions from root xylem to leaves probably takes place via xylem transfer cells which have two special features: The ce

Show germ layer from which the coeloms originate, Q. What is the germ layer...

Q. What is the germ layer from which the coeloms originate? The coeloms are deriving from mesoderm.

Enumerate the term - clinical neuroscience, Enumerate the term - Clinical n...

Enumerate the term - Clinical neuroscience Clinical neuroscience concerns the study of clinical populations both to well understand neuroanatomy and to test psychological theor

Membrane oxygenators-type of oxygenators , Membrane Oxygenators: They are...

Membrane Oxygenators: They are more physiological and are similar to natural lungs. There is separation of blood and gas by membrane across which gas exchange takes place. There

What is the name of group of fungi, Most of the fungi normally observed are...

Most of the fungi normally observed are members of this group of fungi that includes toadstools, mushrooms and puffballs. This group of fungi is termed as: a) Phycomycetes (pro

Bubble oxygenators type of oxygenators , Bubble Oxygenators: These ha...

Bubble Oxygenators: These have a mixing chamber where venous blood is collected and from the bottom end micro bubbles of oxygen are passed and as they rise to the top, gas ex

What is the external rigid carapace of arthropods called, Q What is the ext...

Q What is the external rigid carapace of arthropods called? Of which substance is it made? Which kind of organic molecule is that substance? The exterior carapace of arthropods

Myocarditis, Myocarditis Myocarditis is inflammation of the myocardiu...

Myocarditis Myocarditis is inflammation of the myocardium, of the heart muscles. i) Causes Infection: . Wrus, bacteria, fungus, parasites Non-infection: Radi

Find a chemically gated protein, You have identified a protein in a cell th...

You have identified a protein in a cell that you know that comes from the human body. With respect to that protein you have also determined that it allows sodium ions to go through

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd