Estimation of life years lost from alcohol-related premature death

This paper presents estimates of life years and working years lost from alcohol-related premature death in 1983. It is then suggested that since lives saved or changes in the quality of life are outcomes of health care policies, measures of the value of life and quality of life years saved are needed for economic evaluation and efficient decision-making. Three methods of valuing life are outlined and ways of measuring the quality of life years gained from health care interventions are discussed. These methods are still at an early stage of development and are intrinsically complex and contentious. Nevertheless, it is argued that all outcomes of health policies need to be measured in order to make more efficient health care decisions. The estimate of life years lost from alcohol-related premature death presented in this paper is one indicator of the magnitude of this aspect of social cost. An important and natural extension is to assess the outcomes of policies aimed at reducing the number of premature deaths. Such research would greatly improve our knowledge of alcohol misuse and the effects of policies used to alleviate its associated problems.