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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Health Economics
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1401726

The burden of COVID-19 based on disability-adjusted life years: a systematic review of available evidence

Provisionally accepted
Salman Daneshi Salman Daneshi 1*Eshagh Barfar Eshagh Barfar 2Behzad Raei Behzad Raei 3Fatemeh Bagher Barahouei Fatemeh Bagher Barahouei 4
  • 1 2- Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health, School of Health, Jiroft University of Medical Sciences, Jiroft, Iran, Jiroft, Iran
  • 2 5- Assistant Professor of Health Economics, Health Promotion Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran, Zahedan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran
  • 3 Department of Health Education and Promotion, Faculty oh Health Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
  • 4 MSc Student of Health Care Management, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran, Jiroft, Kerman, Iran

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: The present study tries to evaluate and summarize the available evidence to provide insights into the COVID-19 burden worldwide using disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and compare the level of damage across countries during this pandemic.We conducted a systematic review following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and metaanalyses (PRISMA) guidelines to investigate the global burden of COVID-19. Studies were identified through searches conducted on Ovid Medline, Cochrane, Science Direct, Scopus, and PubMed databases as well as, the Google Scholar search engine. All stages of the search, study selection, qualitative assessment, and data extraction were carried out by two authors separately. Any disagreement among reviewers was resolved by discussion.The total DALYs incurred by COVID-19 varied widely among nations, with rates per 100,000 population ranging from approximately 5 in Korea to 5,363 in the US. Deaths due to COVID-19 could substantially impact years of life lost (YLLs), emerging as a major contributing factor to DALYs. Furthermore, unlike in high-income countries, a significant proportion of YLLs in low-and middle-income countries is associated with individuals dying at younger ages. Years lived with disability (YLDs) were also identified as a minor contributing factor to DALY estimates associated with COVID-19.Our findings from this investigation provide valuable insights into the impacts of COVID-19 on global health that may be an important basis for assessing its global burden, facilitating international comparisons, and allocating efforts to manage the epidemic. However, challenges persist in identifying and quantifying the economic costs and non-health effects of the event on an international scale.

    Keywords: Burden, COVID-19, Disability-adjusted life years, DALYs, YLL, Years of life lost, YLD, years lived with a disability

    Received: 15 Mar 2024; Accepted: 09 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Daneshi, Barfar, Raei and Bagher Barahouei. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Salman Daneshi, 2- Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health, School of Health, Jiroft University of Medical Sciences, Jiroft, Iran, Jiroft, Iran

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.