DALY

DALY or Disability-Adjusted Life Year is a measure used in the field of public health and health impact assessment to quantify the burden of disease from mortality and morbidity. It is one of the metrics used by the World Health Organization and other organizations to measure the global burden of disease.

Definition

The DALY is a measure of overall disease burden, expressed as the number of years lost due to ill-health, disability or early death. It was developed in the 1990s as a way of comparing the overall health and life expectancy of different countries.

Calculation

The DALY combines in one measure the time lived with disability and the time lost due to premature mortality. One DALY can be thought of as one lost year of "healthy" life. The sum of these DALYs across the population, or the burden of disease, can be thought of as a measurement of the gap between current health status and an ideal health situation where the entire population lives to an advanced age, free of disease and disability.

Use in Public Health

DALYs for a disease or health condition are calculated as the sum of the Years of Life Lost (YLL) due to premature mortality in the population and the Years Lost due to Disability (YLD) for people living with the health condition or its consequences.

Criticism

While the DALY has been widely adopted as a measure of disease burden, it has also been criticized. Some critics argue that it is overly simplistic, and that it fails to take into account differences in disease severity or the social and economic impacts of disease.

See Also

• Quality-Adjusted Life Year
• Health-adjusted life expectancy

DALY Resources
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