ENTENDIENDO EL USO Y RESULTADOS DEL INDICADOR AÑOS DE VIDA AJUSTADOS POR DISCAPACIDAD.

This article tries to show the scope and limitations of the indicator “Disability Adjusted Life Years" (DALY) not as a technical perspective that sustains the validity and generality of the indicator, but from the perspective of the attention and understanding of whom use this indicator in order to take decisions. This article has three sections: The first one is a review of the theoretical concepts we use. In the second part we note three points: what kind of indicator the DALY actually is, how DALY appeals to non expert audiences and, in the last part of this section, the extent of understanding of the results given by this indicator for the non expert audiences. Finally in the third section of this work, we recommend the use of this indicator to the non expert audiences when they fully understand the background of what DALY is measuring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]