How should different life expectancies be valued?

BMJ 1998;316:1316 ( 25 April )

Letters

How should different life expectancies be valued?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ Commissioners of health care have to decide which of the many possible uses of resources should be given priority,given that we cannot afford everything that might do some goodfor some people. One way of comparing possible investments isto consider cost per life year gained. Extending life from 3 monthsto 9 months at a cost of £4000 costs the same per life year gainedas extending life by 5 years at a cost of £40 000 $---$ namely, £8000.Let's leave quality of life, and comparisons of the benefits ofmortality and morbidity aside for the time being.

Our problem is this: should 6 months of life, when that is most of what is left, be valued equally with 6 months that is partof a much longer survival period, or should it be valued as partof the progression to complete recovery? Should the time thatis left weigh more heavily . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us Add to Digg

Digg

StumbleUpon Add to Technorati

Technorati What's this?

Relevant Article

How should different life expectancies be valued?: Tim Benson, Werner Brouwer, and Ben van Hout
BMJ 1998 317: 1155. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

Clegg, A, Scott, D A, Hewitson, P, Sidhu, M, Waugh, N (2002). Clinical and cost effectiveness of paclitaxel, docetaxel, gemcitabine, and vinorelbine in non-small cell lung cancer: a systematic review. Thorax 57: 20-28 [Abstract] [Full text]
Benson, T., Brouwer, W., van Hout, B. (1998). How should different life expectancies be valued?. BMJ 317: 1155-1155 [Full text]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

An Existential Model for Valuing Health States: Tim Benson
bmj.com, 10 May 1998 [Full text]
Diminishing marginal utility of health effects: Werner Brouwer, et al.
bmj.com, 14 May 1998 [Full text]
Questionnaires for the general public are needed to resolve the "duration of life left effect": Wai-Ching Leung
bmj.com, 21 May 1998 [Full text]