Adjusted life year

The most commonly used types of adjusted life year are quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Both QALYs and DALYs fall under the broader category of health-adjusted life years (HALYs), which rely on measures of health to make the relevant adjustments. HALYs are commonly used in public health to quantify the burden of disease and to compare the cost-effectiveness of different health interventions. By contrast, wellbeing-adjusted life years (WALYs or WELLBYs) adjust based on measures of wellbeing, such as hedonic experience or preference satisfaction. One type of WALY is the WELLBY, which measuresA common wellbeing onmeasure uses a scale ranging from 0 to 10, representing the answers "not at all" and "completely", respectively, to the question "Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?"^[1] Within the effective altruism community, WALYs are generally preferred over HALYs, because things other than health can contribute to a person's wellbeing, and because health itself, while often a good proxy for wellbeing, is not generally regarded as intrinsically valuable.^[2]

The most commonly used types of adjusted life year are quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Both QALYs and DALYs fall under the broader category of health-adjusted life years (HALYs), which rely on measures of health to make the relevant adjustments. HALYs are commonly used in public health to quantify the burden of disease and to compare the cost-effectiveness of different health interventions. By contrast, wellbeing-adjusted life years (WALYs) adjust based on measures of wellbeing, such as hedonic experience or preference satisfaction. One type of WALY is the WELLBY, which measures wellbeing on a scale ranging from 0 to 10, representing the answers "not at all" and "completely", respectively, to the question "Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?" (Frijters & Krekel 2021)^[1] Within the effective altruism community, WALYs are generally preferred over HALYs, because things other than health can contribute to a person's wellbeing, and because health itself, while often a good proxy for wellbeing, is not generally regarded as intrinsically valuable (Todd 2015).valuable.^[2]

BibliographyFurther reading

Related entries

burden of disease | wellbeing

1. ^{^}

   Frijters, Paul & Christian Krekel (2021) A Handbook for Wellbeing Policy-Making: History, Theory, Measurement, Implementation, and Examples, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

2. ^{^}

   Todd, Benjamin (2015) We care about WALYs not QALYs, Effective Altruism Forum, November 13.

   Related entries

   burden of disease | wellbeing

burden of disease | wellbeing

The most commonly used types of adjusted life year are quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Both QALYs and DALYs fall under the broader category of health-adjusted life years (HALYs), which userely on measures of health to make the relevant adjustments. HALYs are commonly used in public health to quantify the global burden of disease and to compare the cost-effectiveness of different health interventions. By contrast, wellbeing-adjusted life years (WALYs) adjust based on measures of wellbeing, such as hedonic experience or preference satisfaction. One type of WALY is the WELLBY, which measures wellbeing on a scale ranging from 0 to 10, representing the answers 'not"not at all'all" and 'completely'"completely", respectively, to the question '‘Overall,"Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?’" (Frijters & Krekel 2021) Within the effective altruism community, WALYs are generally preferred over HALYs, because things other than health can contribute to a person's wellbeing, and because health itself, while often a good proxy for wellbeing, is not generally regarded as intrinsically valuable (Todd 2015).

Related entries

wellbeing

The most commonly used types of adjusted life year are quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Both QALYs and DALYs fall under the broader category of health-adjusted life years (HALYs), which use measures of health to make the relevant adjustments. HALYs are commonly used in public health to quantify the global burden of disease and compare the cost-effectiveness of different health interventions. By contrast, wellbeing-adjusted life years (WELLBYsWALYs) adjust based on measures of wellbeing, such as hedonic experience or preference satisfaction. One type of WALY is the WELLBY, which measures wellbeing on a scale ranging from 0 to 10, representing the answers 'not at all' and 'completely', respectively, to the question '‘Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?’ (Frijters & Krekel 2021) Within the effective altruism community, WELLBYsWALYs are generally preferred over HALYs, because things other than health can contribute to a person's wellbeing, and because health itself, while often a good proxy for wellbeing, is not generally regarded as intrinsically valuable (Todd 2015).

The most commonly used types of adjusted life year are quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Both QALYs and DALYs fall under the broader category of health-adjusted life years (HALYs), which use measures of health to make the relevant adjustments. HALYs are commonly used in public health to quantify the global burden of disease and compare the cost-effectiveness of different health interventions. By contrast, wellbeing-adjusted life years (WELLBYs/WALYsWELLBYs) adjust based on measures of wellbeing, such as hedonic experience or preference satisfaction. Within the effective altruism community, WELLBYs/WALYsWELLBYs are generally preferred over HALYs, because things other than health can contribute to a person's wellbeing, and because health itself, while often a good proxy for wellbeing, is not generally regarded as intrinsically valuable (Todd 2015).

Frijters, Paul & Christian Krekel (2021) A Handbook for Wellbeing Policy-Making: History, Theory, Measurement, Implementation, and Examples, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The most commonly used types of adjusted life year are quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Both QALYs and DALYs fall under the broader category of health-adjusted life years (HALYs), which use measures of health to make the relevant adjustments. HALYs are commonly used in public health to quantify the global burden of disease and compare the cost-effectiveness of different health interventions. By contrast, wellbeing-adjusted life years (WELLBYs/WALYs) adjust based on measures of wellbeing, such as hedonic experience or preference satisfaction. Within the effective altruism community, WELLBYs/WALYs are generally preferred over HALYs, because things other than health can contribute to a person's wellbeing, and because health itself, while often a good proxy for wellbeing, is not generally regarded as intrinsically valuable (Todd 2015).