QALY as a supporting factor for animal model selection in animal research

K. Persson; S. Hartstang

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QALY as a supporting factor for animal model selection in animal research

In: EurSafe2024 Proceedings

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K. Persson

K. Persson
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S. Hartstang

S. Hartstang
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 299–304

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004715509_049

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Dar Hadith al Hassania

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Given the utilitarian basis of animal research legislation (we focus on the German and Swiss Animal Welfare Acts, here, but acknowledge European animal research regulations, namely the Directive 2010/63, too), it seems plausible to suggest further utility-based tools for decision-making in animal research. The “Quality-Adjusted-Life Years” (QALY) is a measure in medicine and public health, originally used to compare different approaches in a health care system (population-based) or different interventions for an individual patient (individual-based) in clinical decision-making regarding the outcome for the patients (and, consequently, their cost-effectiveness). The basic idea of QALY is the integration of the expected remaining quantity and quality of life for a patient, whereby quantity is measured in years and quality in a health state value between zero (death) and one (perfect health), occasionally also including negative values for states worth than death. In animal research, the selection of animal models is currently based on different ethical, legal, and practical criteria, such as: preferring non-vertebrates over vertebrates, fish over mammals, less sentient over more sentient animals, wellestablished model organisms over less conventional species, choosing animals “lower on the evolutionary scale”, natural hosts, or those animals who are easier to handle. From an animal ethics perspective, in contrast to the suffering inflicted during experimental procedures, the loss of lifetime for the individual animal when being used for a research study is currently not taken into consideration. Here, we want to suggest implementing QALY in animal research (QALYAR) as a way of including this criterion as a morally relevant aspect for the model selection in animal research. Like in the QALY calculation, a health state value should be attributed to each phase of the potential laboratory animal’s life. QALYAR can, accordingly, be influenced not only by the choice of animal species (or breeding line) but also by the animal’s age at the time of the experiment, by different solutions to take care of animals after the experiment, and by the refinement of all human-animal-interaction in the animal’s life. An adaptation of the original parameters to calculate QALY in human medicine would have to be discussed for QALYAR in detail.

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EurSafe2024 Proceedings

Back to the future - Sustainable innovations for ethical food production and consumption

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004715509

Publisher:: Wageningen Academic

Print Publication Date:: 03 Sep 2024

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QALY as a supporting factor for animal model selection in animal research

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EurSafe2024 Proceedings

Back to the future - Sustainable innovations for ethical food production and consumption

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