Question

Which is the best index for burden of disease?

• A. Case fatality rate
• B. Disability adjusted life years
• C. Dependence rate
• D. Morbidity data

Hint:

DALY combines years lost to death and years lost to disability into one score.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
The question asks for the best single index used to measure the overall burden of disease in a population.

Step 2: Key Concept:
Burden of disease needs a measure that captures both death and disability caused by a condition, not just one of the two. The Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY) was developed by the World Health Organization and the World Bank for exactly this purpose.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
One DALY equals one lost year of healthy life. It is the sum of Years of Life Lost (YLL) due to premature death and Years Lost due to Disability (YLD). This combined structure lets planners compare very different diseases, for example a disease that kills quickly against one that disables for decades, on the same scale.
Case fatality rate only tells us what fraction of people who get a disease die from it. It says nothing about how many people are affected or how long they suffer.
Dependence rate is a demographic ratio of non-working age people to working age people, and has nothing to do with disease burden directly.
Morbidity data on its own is only a count of illness episodes. It does not weigh disease severity, duration, or the disability caused, so it cannot summarise burden by itself.

Step 4: Final Answer:
The Disability Adjusted Life Year combines mortality and disability into one number, which makes it the best index for burden of disease.
\[ \boxed{\text{Disability Adjusted Life Years}} \]