title: Quality-adjusted life years.
abstract: Many health systems now use cost-effectiveness analysis to decide which interventions and programmes to fund. A key issue for such decision making is how to measure health outcomes from interventions to reflect changes in both health-related quality of life and life expectancy. For some decision makers, including the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in the UK, the quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) is central to health measurement. This article describes the concept of the QALY, its derivation, and its strengths and weaknesses.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Economics, University of York, York, UK.
authors.forename: Yolanda
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bravo Vergel
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sculpher
mesh_terms: D006302:Health Services Research / Q000592:standards*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years