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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| The value of health at different ages | | Author(s) | Aki Tsuchiya |
| Corporate Author | Centre for Health Economics, University of York |
| Publisher | University of York, York, 2001 |
| Pages | 15 pp (Centre for Health Economics Discussion paper 184) |
| Source | The Publications Office, Centre for Health Economics, University of York, York YO10 5DD. |
| Keywords | Health [elderly] ; Quality of life ; Age groups [elderly] ; Quantitative studies. |
| Annotation | Is the value of being healthy the same across all ages? The standard practice of economic evaluation assumes so, and does not discriminate between a QALY (Quality Adjusted Life Year) of an older person or a child. It is possible to assume that the value of a healthy year is different according to age, as has been done with DALYs (Disability Adjusted Life Years). This paper is based on interviews designed to elicit and quantify preferences concerning health at different ages. Three hypotheses were tested: that the relative value of health decreases with age; that this decreasing profile is independent of a respondent's age; and that this age-related preference can be expressed on an interval scale. Results obtained did depend on a respondent's age: a mostly negative age-value profile from younger respondents, but peaking at middle age. Thus the first two hypotheses were largely rejected, but the last cannot be. However, the variance of responses was large, rendering rejection somewhat less likely. Respondents therefore valued a unit of health differently. While the study does not determine the exact continuous age-value profile, the profile clearly declined beyond middle age. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-010207202 B |
| Classmark | CC: F:59: BB: 3DQ |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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