Age weights and discounting in health gaps reconsidered

Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were developed as a health gap measure to quantify the burden of disease and injury on human populations for the Global Burden of Disease Study (Murray 1996). Murray and Acharya (1997) have reviewed the specific formulation of DALYs and the arguments underpinning the social values explicitly incorporated into DALYs. This paper summarizes the arguments supporting the use of age weights and time discounting in health gaps. It draws on the previous paper by Murray and Acharya (1997).