Live Long, Live Well: Quantifying the Health of Heterogenous Populations

54 Pages Posted: 8 Sep 2000 Last revised: 30 Jul 2022

See all articles by John Mullahy

John Mullahy

University of Wisconsin - Madison - Department of Population Health Sciences; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: September 2000

Abstract

Various health-, quality-, and disability-adjusted life year or life expectancy (HALY, QALY, DALY; HALE, QALE, DALE) measures have become gold standards for defining outcomes in technology evaluation, population health monitoring, and other evaluative efforts. As such, it is critical that the analytical framework within which these measures are used for descriptive and evaluative purposes be theoretically consistent and statistically rigorous. For instance, widely-accepted definitions of cost-effectiveness ratios and other technology evaluation criteria that are based on expectations of the respective cost and outcome measures must as such be defined in terms of expected HALYs or QALYs. Similarly, measures like HALEs or QALEs used for population health monitoring are typically concerned with population expectations of such measures (or their corresponding totals). This paper demonstrates that estimation of such expectations necessarily requires consideration of the population variation in and covariation between quality and longevity. From the perspective of several different environments characterizing such heterogeneity, quantification or estimation of measures like QUALs are recondidered. An empirical example of the central issues is provided by means of an analysis of the Years of Healthy Life (YHL) measure drawn from the U.S. National Health Interview Survey.

Suggested Citation

Mullahy, John, Live Long, Live Well: Quantifying the Health of Heterogenous Populations (September 2000). NBER Working Paper No. w7895, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=241385

John Mullahy (Contact Author)

University of Wisconsin - Madison - Department of Population Health Sciences ( email )

610 Walnut St
Madison, WI 53726
United States
608-265-5410 (Phone)
608-263-4885 (Fax)

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
608-265-5410 (Phone)
608-263-4885 (Fax)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
44
Abstract Views
912
PlumX Metrics