Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY): DALYs are standard measures to estimate the burden of illness in public health. DALYs take into account the disability caused by the disease (YLD) and the premature mortality (YLL). Determining YLLs, YLDs and DALYs allows us to measure the shortfall of the decreased and life years lost. YLLs explain the loss incurred as a result of death due to an event by comparing it with the years that they would have lived otherwise. YLLs become high in case of either higher mortality or mortality of younger people or both.
DALYs is a time-based measure that incorporates years of life lost from premature mortality (YLLs) and years lived with disability (YLDs) as a result of the disease or health condition's high prevalence in a population. One DALY represents the loss of the equivalent of one year of full health.
DALY= YLL+YLD-
Years of Life Lost (YLL): Losses due to premature mortality. It is calculated using the formula:
Where, r is the discount rate, L= life expectancy at age of death (in years); N= number of deaths
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Years Lived with Disability (YLD): Losses incurred due to the disability caused by infections or any other health condition; calculated using the formula:
Where, r= discount rate; D= disability duration (years); I= number of incident cases.
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Combined Disability Weights(CDW): Calculating disability weights of various symptoms will help improve accuracy
Where, i and j indicate the Disability Weights (DWs) of ith and jth disabilities.