ESSENCE
ECONOMICS OF SOCIAL CARE COMPENDIUM

ESSENCE TERMS

Quality-adjusted life year (QALY)


[Adapted from: Public Health England (2017) Health Economics Evidence Resource.  Public Health England. (The website can be accessed here) ]

A measure of the state of health of a person or group in which the benefits, in terms of length of life, are adjusted to reflect the quality of life. One QALY is equal to 1 year of life in perfect health. QALYs are calculated by estimating the years of life remaining for a patient following a particular treatment or intervention and weighting each year with a quality of life score (on a 0-1 scale).

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NIHR School for
Social Care Research

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