The socioeconomic burden of migraine: An evaluation of productivity losses due to migraine headaches based on a population study in Germany.

BACKGROUND: This study estimates the socioeconomic impact of migraine headaches on paid and unpaid work productivity in the adult German population in 1 year. METHODS: We used data on headache frequency (days per month) from a longitudinal population-based study. Prevalence estimates of migraine were derived from the Global Burden of Disease Collaborative Network. Demography data were derived from official statistics in 2017. Aggregate headache days in 1 year were translated to losses in paid and unpaid productive hours based on estimates of presenteeism and absenteeism along with other socioeconomic parameters. Paid hours lost were distributed across the industry sectors. In this way, an age-, gender- and industry sector-specific monetary value was calculated for paid hours lost. Unpaid hours lost were valued by assigning the unpaid activities to their nearest market substitute. In a last step, value-added multipliers derived from input-output tables were used to calculate the economic value chain effects. RESULTS: A total of 15.5 million persons (20 years or older) suffer from migraine in Germany. Our analysis shows that 60% of those have three or fewer headache days per month, while patients suffering chronic migraine (15+ headache days per month) account for 5.4% of the adult migraine population. Females bear 65% of the total 836 million headache days per year. The socioeconomic losses due to migraine amount to €100.4 billion (€6493 on average per patient) in one year. CONCLUSION: In addition to time losses in paid work, migraine causes substantial socioeconomic losses to unpaid work activities due to its disproportionate prevalence among females. Economic value chain effects provide a novel perspective on losses beyond a patient's time loss. Overall, the elements of socioeconomic burden provide a strong rationale that innovative migraine therapies could be of high value to society.

Use of aspirin combinations with caffeine and increasing headache frequency: a prospective population-based study.

Combinations of analgesics with caffeine have been discussed as bearing a risk for headache chronicity. We investigated whether aspirin with caffeine (ASA+) increases headache frequency compared with aspirin alone in migraine, tension-type headache (TTH), and migraine + TTH (MigTTH). The population-based German Headache Consortium Study, which included participants aged 18 to 65 years, collected information about headache and analgesics at baseline (2003-2007, t0, response rate: 55.2%), first follow-up after 1.87 ± 0.39 years (t1, 37.2%), and second follow-up after 3.26 ± 0.60 years (t2, 38.8%). We included participants with headache at t0, aspirin intake, ASA+ or no analgesics at t0 and t2, and known headache frequency. Linear regression was used to estimate changes of headache frequency (Δt2-t0) and 95% confidence intervals depending on analgesic intake, stratified by headache subtypes, adjusting for sex, age, analgesics at t1, changes of headache frequency at t1, drinking, smoking, body mass index, education, headache frequency at t0. Of 509 participants (56.0% women, 42.0 ± 11.8 years [mean ± SD]), 45.2% reported aspirin intake (41.3 ± 10.9 years, 59.6% women, headache days at t0: 2.8 ± 3.1 d/mo, t2: 3.6 ± 4.1 d/mo), 11.8% ASA+ intake (46.0 ± 9.8 years, 73.3%, t0: 4.8 ± 6.1 d/mo, t2: 5.3 ± 5.1 d/mo), and 43.0% no analgesics (41.6 ± 13.1 years, 47.5%, t0: 3.8 ± 6.2 d/mo, t2: 5.3 ± 6.6 d/mo). There was no increase in headache frequency in participants with ASA+ intake compared with aspirin (adjusted, all headache: -0.34 d/mo [95% confidence intervals: -2.50 to 1.82], migraine: -1.36 d/mo [-4.76 to 2.03], TTH: -0.57 d/mo [-4.97 to 3.84], MigTTH: 2.46 d/mo [-5.19 to 10.10]) or no analgesics (all headache: -2.24 d/mo [-4.54 to 0.07], migraine: -3.77 d/mo [-9.22 to 1.68], TTH: -4.68 d/mo [-9.62 to 0.27]; MigTTH: -3.22 d/mo [-10.16 to 3.71]). In our study, ASA+ intake did not increase headache frequency compared with aspirin or no analgesics.

The association between stress and headache: A longitudinal population-based study.

INTRODUCTION: We studied the association between stress intensity and headache frequency for tension-type headache (TTH), migraine and migraine with coexisting TTH (MigTTH). METHOD: We studied a population-based sample of 5159 participants (21-71 years) who were asked quarterly between March 2010 and April 2012 about headache and stress. Log-linear regression in the framework of generalized estimating equations was used to estimate regression coefficients presented as percent changes to describe the association between stress intensity (modified visual analog scale (VAS) from 0 to 100) and headache frequency (days/month) stratified by headache subtypes and age groups and adjusted for sex, age, frequent intake of acute pain drugs, drinking, smoking, BMI and education. RESULTS: TTH was reported in 31% participants (48.1 ± 12.5years, 51.5% women, 2.2 ± 3.9 mean headache days/month, 52.3 ± 26.7 mean stress), migraine in 14% (44.8 ± 11.3years, 73.3%, 4.5 ± 5.2 days/month, 62.4 ± 23.3), MigTTH in 10.6% (43.5 ± 11.5 years, 61.0%, 3.6 ± 4.8 days/month, 58.6 ± 24.1), 23.6% were unclassifiable, and 20.8% had no headache. In participants with TTH an increase of 10 points on VAS was associated with an increase of headaches days/month of 6.0% (adjusted). Higher effects were observed in younger age groups (21-30/31-40/41-50/51-60/61-71 years: 9.8/10.2/7.0/6.5/3.5%). Slightly lower effects were observed for migraine (4.3%, 8.1/5.1/3.4/6.3/0.3%) and MigTTH (4.2%, 5.5/6.8/6.9/5.8/-0.7%). CONCLUSION: Our study provides evidence for an association between stress intensity and headache frequency.

Epidemiological profiles of patients with chronic migraine and chronic tension-type headache.

BACKGROUND: We evaluated risk factors associated with chronic headache (CH) such as age, gender, smoking, frequent drinking of alcoholic beverages (drinking), obesity, education and frequent intake of acute pain drugs to test their usefulness in clinical differentiation between chronic migraine (CM) and chronic tension-type headache (CTTH). METHODS: We used baseline data from the population-based German Headache Consortium Study including 9,944 participants aged 18-65 years, screened 2003-2005, using validated questionnaires. CM and CTTH were defined according to IHS criteria. Multinominal logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the association of CM or CTTH with risk factors by estimating odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). RESULTS: The prevalence of CH was 2.6% (N = 255, mean age 46 ± 14.1 years, 65.1% women), CM 1.1% (N = 108, 45 ± 12.9 years, 73.1%), CTTH 0.5% (N = 50, 49 ± 13.9 years, 48.0%). Participants with CM compared to CTTH were more likely to be female (OR: 2.34, 95%CI: 1.00-5.49) and less likely to drink alcohol (0.31, 0.09-1.04). By trend they seemed more likely to smoke (1.81, 0.76-4.34), to be obese (1.85, 0.54-6.27), to report frequent intake of acute pain drugs (1.68, 0.73-3.88) and less likely to be low educated (0.72, 0.27-1.97). CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that the careful assessment of different risk factors might aid in the clinical differentiation between CM and CTTH.