An attempt to measure burden of disease using disability adjusted life years for Sri Lanka.
BACKGROUND
Disability adjusted life years (DALY) is a measure of burden of disease (BOD) that assesses the years of healthy life lost due to disease or illness.


OBJECTIVE
The main objective of the study was to develop a draft measure of the BOD in Sri Lanka, using DALY.


METHODS
Computation was done for 100 disease categories identified to reflect the disease pattern in Sri Lanka. Factors that were considered for the calculation of DALY were incidence, degree of disability, duration of the illness and age of onset.


RESULTS
Injuries, ischaemic heart disease, asthma, disease of the pulmonary circulation and burns contribute to 55% of BOD in Sri Lanka.


CONCLUSIONS
The highest burden was due to non-communicable diseases, as their duration and degree of disability are high. Diseases such as malaria, which are short term illnesses with low disability, although affecting large numbers, did not give a high value for DALY.
Wijewardene
K
K
Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayawardenepura.
Spohr
M
M
D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D011788:Quality of Life; D013188:Sri Lanka