Estimating Disability Adjusted Life Years using Survival Models in HIV/ AIDS Risk Groups

Introduction: Advances in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) treatment have led to greater survival rates and have brought about a shift in the burden of disease from mortality to morbidity. The main purpose of this study is to estimate the Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) of HIV infected patients associated with different modes of transmission. Methods: Non-parametric Kaplan-Meier estimate has been utilised to develop survival function, and the mean residual life model has been utilised to estimate the life expectancy of patients alive at the end of the study. The impact of factors such as age, sex, hepatitis B and syphilis on life expectancy has also been assessed by fitting a proportional mean residual life model. DALYs have been calculated based on the results of both models. Results: Retrospective time to event data of HIV patients undergoing Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) in Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi, India has been utilised to illustrate the modelling technique. The study suggests that in total, 42300.15 DALYs were lost which includes 39765.10 years of life lost due to premature death and 2535.05 years of life lived with disability. When the covariates were taken into consideration, 47592.14 DALYs were found to have been lost with an average of 17.64 DALYs lost per patient. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the high-risk groups such as homosexuals and parent to child transmission are a major cause of concern, which are in accordance with the existing national policies. Also, we would suggest that gender-based and age-based policies should be incorporated to reduce the burden of disease.