Define a QALY and explain how it is used in health economic evaluations.

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Multiple Choice

Define a QALY and explain how it is used in health economic evaluations.

Quality-Adjusted Life Year blends how long someone lives with how well they live. It assigns a utility value to a health state, somewhere between 0 and 1, where 0 means death and 1 means perfect health. A QALY is the number of years lived in a health state multiplied by that utility. For example, 3 years lived in a health state valued at 0.7 equals 2.1 QALYs. In health economic evaluations, QALYs are used in cost-utility analyses to compare the value of different interventions by looking at the cost per QALY gained. This helps decide which options deliver more health benefit per unit of cost, even when the interventions affect both survival and quality of life. It’s the bridge that lets comparisons across very different treatments, diseases, or outcomes. It isn’t about how drugs move through the body (pharmacokinetics) or the price tag of a drug alone, or about lifetime market access without tying it to health outcomes.

Quality-Adjusted Life Year blends how long someone lives with how well they live. It assigns a utility value to a health state, somewhere between 0 and 1, where 0 means death and 1 means perfect health. A QALY is the number of years lived in a health state multiplied by that utility. For example, 3 years lived in a health state valued at 0.7 equals 2.1 QALYs. In health economic evaluations, QALYs are used in cost-utility analyses to compare the value of different interventions by looking at the cost per QALY gained. This helps decide which options deliver more health benefit per unit of cost, even when the interventions affect both survival and quality of life. It’s the bridge that lets comparisons across very different treatments, diseases, or outcomes. It isn’t about how drugs move through the body (pharmacokinetics) or the price tag of a drug alone, or about lifetime market access without tying it to health outcomes.

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