title: A convenient approximation of life expectancy (the "DEALE"). II. Use in medical decision-making.
abstract: We show how to use a bedside approximation of life expectancy in quantitative decision-making. This method, the declining exponential approximation of life expectancy (DEALE), enables the physician to collate various survival data with information on morbidity to determine a quality-adjusted expected survival for a potential management plan. The keystone in the DEALE approach is the approximation of survival by a simple exponential function. This approximation makes it possible to translate data from various literature sources (life expectancy tables, five-year survival rates, survival curves, median survival) into a single, unified mortality scale. In this paper, we use the DEALE method to obtain approximations of quality-adjusted life expectancy and illustrate the application of the method in a quantitative analysis of a clinical decision.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003082:Colectomy; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000401:mortality; D003933:Diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D012306:Risk