The Fatal Flaw in the Disability Adjusted Life Year

Abstract

This disability adjusted life year (DALY) was developed to measure the global burden of disease and the effectiveness of health interventions. The measure is incapable of accomplishing either task, however, because the system of disability severity weightings employed in its construction embodies the false assumption that any given disabling condition always results in a disability of certain severity, regardless of the context in which it occurs. This is a fatal flaw, which renders the DALY inappropriate for use by scholars or policy makers requiring accurate disability statistics.