Quality-Adjusted Life-Year Losses Averted With Every COVID-19 Infection Prevented in the United States

Abstract

Objective To estimate the overall quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) gained by averting 1 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection over the duration of the pandemic. Methods A cohort-based probabilistic simulation model, informed by the latest epidemiological estimates on COVID-19 in the United States provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and literature review. Heterogeneity of parameter values across age group was accounted for. The main outcome studied was QALYs for the infected patient, patient’s family members, and the contagion effect of the infected patient over the duration of the pandemic. Results Averting a COVID-19 infection in a representative US resident will generate an additional 0.061 (0.016-0.129) QALYs (for the patient: 0.055, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.014-0.115; for the patient’s family members: 0.006, 95% CI 0.002-0.015). Accounting for the contagion effect of this infection, and assuming that an effective vaccine will be available in 3 months, the total QALYs gains from averting 1 single infection is 1.51 (95% CI 0.28-4.37) accrued to patients and their family members affected by the index infection and its sequelae. These results were robust to most parameter values and were most influenced by effective reproduction number, probability of death outside the hospital, the time-varying hazard rates of hospitalization, and death in critical care. Conclusion Our findings suggest that the health benefits of averting 1 COVID-19 infection in the United States are substantial. Efforts to curb infections must weigh the costs against these benefits.

Quality-Adjusted Life-Years Lost Due to COVID-19 Mortality: Methods and Application for The Netherlands

“…Previous work by Briggs et al 2 stressed the mechanism of underlying health status affecting QALYs lost, but with little empirical evidence to support calculations. A recent study 3 for the United States, which takes the broader health effects beyond mortality into account, finds that almost 80% of the total QALY loss per COVID-19 infection is because of death. Nevertheless, their estimates of QALYs lost because of death are based on age-specific averages and thus potentially an overestimation.…”

A model framework for projecting the prevalence and impact of Long-COVID in the UK

“…To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such study on a UK population using UK data. Basu and Gandhay modelled the QALY impact of averting a single COVID-19 infection in an American setting [ 24 ] and reported QALY loss due to symptomatic (outpatient) COVID-19 of 0.007 (95% CI: 0.002–0.011) per COVID-19 infection. This compares to our 0.0075 and 0.0135 for 1- and 10-year horizons, respectively.…”

A Systematic Review of Economic Evaluations of COVID-19 Interventions: Considerations of Non-Health Impacts and Distributional Issues

“…The types of collected cost-effectiveness ratios included $/quality-adjusted life-year (QALY), $/COVID-19 infection averted, $/COVID-19 death averted, $/life-year gained, $/disability-adjusted life-year, and $/health-adjusted life-year. Given the various summary measures reported, we converted $/death averted and $/infection averted to $/QALY based on the recently estimated average QALYs lost per COVID-19 death and infection (0.061 and 0.052, respectively) by Basu and Gandhay, 36 which incorporates both patient and caregiver quality of life. We additionally collected net monetary benefit values reported from CBAs.…”