ABSTRACT
In order to allocate health care resources fairly and efficiently, we need to be able to measure the value of health: its contribution to quality of life. Although the impact of health on quality of life is difficult to separate from the impact of other components of quality of life, researchers have developed a number of methods for measuring health-related quality of life. These are typically based on surveys for describing and evaluating different health states. On the basis of these evaluations, it is possible to construct general measures of health-related quality of life, including quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). This chapter has provided a survey of these procedures. We also presented some of their underlying assumptions as well as some of their problems.
