In late 2012, the British medical journal The Lancet published a new ranking of the world’s leading health problems comparing deaths and DALYs by cause. In terms of death, scientists reported, lung cancer kills about 200,000 more people than road injuries annually. But measured by DALYs, road injuries are almost two and a half times worse for humanity. That’s because most fatal victims of lung cancer are in their 60s, 70s and 80s, while those most likely to die of road injury are in their 20s and 30s — and road injuries cause almost 40 times more disabilities. If you are an international policy maker or aid agency choosing how much to invest in road safety relative to antismoking campaigns, that’s vital information.

The same kind of analysis works even better at a national level, where most health spending takes place, because current health care gaps usually correlate much more with the leading causes of DALYs than the leading causes of deaths. As Mexico moved to a universal health care system in the last decade, it used this type of analysis to prioritize those treatments — like medications for childhood cancers, and emergency care after a car accident — that reduce DALYs the most.

Australia has used its own DALY calculations to direct close to $900 million in public health program spending since 2009, focusing successfully on curbing tobacco use, childhood obesity and diabetes.

Now people everywhere can bring “Moneyball” to medicine. A few months after releasing their global numbers in The Lancet, the same scientists supplied the underlying figures for 187 nations. These statistics will be updated again later this year. At last report, in the United States, measured by DALYs, the third-largest health problem was low back pain. Fifth is major depressive disorders. Eleventh is neck pain. Thirteenth is anxiety disorders. None of these maladies kill anyone directly, so they don’t even show up on a list of leading killers. But they still cause huge amounts of pain and suffering, and cost our economy billions of dollars in lost productivity.

When will low back pain get the research funds and attention given to lung cancer, just below it in a DALY ranking? The toll from major depressive disorder, No. 5, is estimated to be 20 percent worse than that from stroke. Why don’t we promote early detection in the same way, on public billboards and ad campaigns? Health loss from anxiety disorders is estimated to be 80 percent higher than that from breast cancer. Do advocates for anxiety treatment even have their own colored ribbon?

These are provocative questions, and new statistics in any field are inherently threatening to the status quo. But just because we have always looked at things one way is no reason not to consider alternatives, especially when it comes to something as fundamental as improving how we all live and die. We don’t have to take new measures like the DALY as the final word, but they highlight areas for health gain we might otherwise miss. Advanced stats are too important to leave to professional sports teams. We can all try to choose the prevention, detection and treatment strategies that best add years to life and life to years.