Working Papers,
Lund University, Department of Economics

Abstract: Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) is a concept which has rapidly gained in popularity in health policy and considerable research resources are being allocated to the area. Proponents of DALYs suggest that the measure can be used both as a “GDP of health” and to help in setting priorities in health policy. This study extends the criticism of DALYs and contends that DALYs – as the measure is currently understood – cannot be used for either of these two purposes. The DALYs procedure does not produce what it purports to do (a measure of population health), and its use in priority setting is ethically dubious.

Keywords: DALYs; QALYs; priorities; ethics; population health; health care

JEL-codes: I18

24 pages, First version: July 25, 2001. Revised: September 2, 2001.

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Published as

Carl Hampus Lyttkens, (2003), 'Time to disable DALYs? On the use of DALYs in health policy.', The European Journal of Health Economics, vol 4, no 3, pages 195-202

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