Box 5. Quality-adjusted life-years
The concept of the quality-adjusted life-year
(QALY) is based on the belief that the aim of
any health service intervention can be
dichotomised between improving survival
(increasing the quantity of life) and
improving the ability to enjoy life (enhancing
quality of life). By applying ‘quality weights’
to each additional year of life experienced
after treatment, the QALY attempts to
incorporate both of these elements into a
single measure