Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs)
Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) are a measure combining length and quality of life into a single value, where one year in perfect health equals one QALY. Health economists use QALYs to assess cost-effectiveness of treatments.
What are Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs)?
Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) are a measure that combines how long a person lives with how good that life is into a single number. One year lived in perfect health equals one QALY, while a year lived in a less-than-perfect health state counts as a fraction of one.
By weighting survival time by quality of life, QALYs allow very different health outcomes to be expressed on a common scale. This makes it possible to compare interventions that affect longevity, quality of life, or both.
How are QALYs used in research and policy?
Health economists use QALYs in cost-effectiveness analysis, comparing the cost of a treatment against the QALYs it is expected to produce. This helps assess whether an intervention delivers reasonable value relative to its price and to alternatives.
Because they influence coverage and resource decisions in some systems, QALYs also attract debate about how to value health and whether the measure fairly represents all patients. They remain a central, if contested, tool in clinical and regulatory economics.
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