Burden of illness studies are a global standard in quantifying the impact of illness, disability or injury on a person, or the cumulative impact of these on a population. Understanding the burden of illness is often essential in identifying potential preventative measures, and where efforts should be focused to treat a disease. This allows for the most effective distribution of resources to alleviate a diseases impact on society. Burden of illness is often measured using the disability adjusted life year (DALY). This combines years of life lost (YLL) due to early death and years of life lost due to time lived in poor health (YLD – years of life with disability).

Burden of Illness (BOI) Studies

We have experience in executing Burden of Illness reviews at all stages of the process, including protocol development, search and screening, data extraction, data synthesis and final reporting. Using targeted searches and translating the results into digestible graphics (heatmaps) allows us to instantly recognise gaps in the evidence and refine the search strategy accordingly and effectively keep our clients engaged in the process. After the initial phases of the review, we also ensure accuracy of the results using iterative scoping searches and sample screening. Once the search and screening processes are complete, we can identify key markers such as lifetime costs, direct vs indirect costs, clinical burden and both societal and family/carer impacts. In addition, all the evidence is summarized with high attention to detail to inform a report that breaks down the strength of evidence by category. Where weak points of evidence are found, suitable supplementary evidence can be identified following discussion with our clients.

How We Can Help

Supporting our partners in achieving their goals is our priority, and as such we provide a high quality, personalised service from protocol development right through to the final report with effective communication by means of meetings and graphics produced using a number of programming languages. The expertise in our team ensures quality at every step with sensitive and rigorously tested search strategies and informed conclusions, while complying to the high standard of Health Technology Appraisal bodies.

Examples of our Recent Work: