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The economic burden of disease by industry: Differences in quality‐adjusted life years and associated costs
Author(s) -
Tolbert Davina V.,
McCollister Kathryn E.,
LeBlanc William G.,
Lee David J.,
Fleming Lora E.,
Muennig Peter
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.22322
Subject(s) - life expectancy , medicine , quality adjusted life year , willingness to pay , quality of life (healthcare) , disability adjusted life year , national health interview survey , cost–benefit analysis , economic evaluation , environmental health , demography , disease burden , cost effectiveness , economics , population , ecology , risk analysis (engineering) , nursing , pathology , biology , microeconomics , sociology
Background This study compares differences in quality‐adjusted life expectancy across the eight original National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) industry sectors. Methods Data from the 1997 to 2012 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) were used to estimate quality‐adjusted life years (QALYs) for all workers and by NORA sector. Differences in QALYs were calculated and translated into economic values using estimates of the societal willingness‐to‐pay per QALY. Results Mean QALYs across workers was 29.17 years. Among NORA sectors, wholesale, and retail trade workers had the highest average QALYs remaining (35.88), while mining workers had the lowest QALYs (31.4). The economic value of this difference ranges from $604,843 to $1,155,287 per worker depending on the societal willingness‐to‐pay per QALY. Conclusion The value of life lost within some industries is very high relative to others. Additional investments in occupational safety, benefits, and health promotion initiatives may reduce these losses, but experimental research is needed to assess the effectiveness of such programs. Am. J. Ind. Med. 57:757–763, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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