What does Burden of Disease mean?
Burden of Disease is a representation of the health status of a population, in terms of healthy time or 'life years' lost due to morbidity and mortality. Losses due to morbidity and mortality can be added up to provide an estimation of the overall Burden of Disease. This page presents the results of the three-year pilot project BURDEN 2020 on the Burden of Disease in Germany in more detail. more
How is burden of disease measured?
Three main figures provide information on the extent of life lost. These can be reported for individual diseases or groups of diseases.
Years lived wih disability (YLD) represent the morbidity-related part of the Burden of Disease. The prevalence of disease within a given reporting year, as well as the severity and duration of illness, are included in the calculation of health limitations or impairment.
Years of life lost (YLL) describe the mortality-related part of the Burden of Disease. The difference between the age of death and the statistical remaining life expectancy is calculated for those who die within a given reporting year.
Disability-adjusted life years (DALY) years are the sum of YLD and YLL, and represent the total Burden of Disease within a given reporting year. The measurement of the indicators in the same unit of time (years) means that YLD and YLL to be added together to create DALY.