CHDS faculty Ankur Pandya, doctoral student Andrea Luviano, and former student Jihye Han re-analyzed the value assessments underlying the American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines between 2014 and 2022 using Health Years in Total (HYT) rather than the usual Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY). The researchers found that 90% to 96% of conclusions would remain unchanged regardless of which method was used.
The QALY is used to quantify health gains yet has been criticized because it can devalue life-extending interventions for people with lower baseline health compared with individuals with higher baseline health, including people with disabilities. The HYT avoids this problem by counting all quality of life improvements similarly to the QALY but valuing all life extension periods as if they were experienced in perfect health. This study looked at AHA post-2014 clinical practice recommendations based on at least one analysis using the QALY to see whether the value recommendation would change if HYT had been used instead. They found that value conclusions between cost per QALY and cost per HYT were equivalent and clinical practice recommendations would remain unchanged.
Learn more: Read the publication, Reanalyzing Value Assessments in American Heart Association Clinical Practice Guidelines Using Health Years in Total Instead of Quality-Adjusted Life-Years
Learn more: Explore the CHDS approach to Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
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