Estimating (quality‐adjusted) life‐year losses associated with deaths: With application to COVID‐19

Andrew H. Briggs, Daniel A. Goldstein, Erin Kirwin, Rachel Meacock, Ankur Pandya, David Vanness and Torbjørn Wisløff

Health Economics, 2021, vol. 30, issue 3, 699-707

Abstract: Many epidemiological models of the COVID‐19 pandemic have focused on preventing deaths. Questions have been raised as to the frailty of those succumbing to the COVID‐19 infection. In this paper we employ standard life table methods to illustrate how the potential quality‐adjusted life‐year (QALY) losses associated with COVID‐19 fatalities could be estimated, while adjusting for comorbidities in terms of impact on both mortality and quality of life. Contrary to some suggestions in the media, we find that even relatively elderly patients with high levels of comorbidity can still lose substantial life years and QALYs. The simplicity of the method facilitates straightforward international comparisons as the pandemic evolves. In particular, we compare five different countries and show that differences in the average QALY losses for each COVID‐19 fatality is driven mainly by differing age distributions for those dying of the disease.

Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4208

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:30:y:2021:i:3:p:699-707

Access Statistics for this article

Health Economics is currently edited by Alan Maynard, John Hutton and Andrew Jones

More articles in Health Economics from John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().