Table 2 Studies reporting economic burden of migraine

Yu, 2012 [29]

China / Mainland

Population-based

2009

ICHD-II

469 respondents

Mean 46.2 y

67.6 F

Over the past 3 mo, average (SD):

• Days of missed work 2.7 (7.5)

• Impaired work days 4.0 (8.1)

• Missed housework days 3.3 (7.1)

• Impaired housework days 4.7 (8.6)

Indirect costs due to migraine-related lost productivity: CNY 273.7 billion (USD 39.4 billion)

Direct costs (diagnosis / treatment out-of-pocket expenses) per person affected year: CNY 729

Direct costs per year CNY 58.0 billion (USD 8.4 billion)

Total annual cost of migraine per year: CNY 331.7 billion (USD 47.8 billion)

Fuh, 2008 [33]

China / Taiwan

Population-based

1997–1998

IHS migraine and modified migraine (IHS and attacks 2- to 4-h duration)

1813 employees

NR

43.2 F

1809 non-employees

NR

NR

Over the past 1 y:

• Median no. of missed days/employee, 2 days

• Estimated median cost due to missed workdays/person in subjects with migraine vs without migraine: NTD 1667 vs NTD 0, P < 0.001

Projected annual number of missed workdays and economic loss attributed to migraine in 2005:

• 3.7 million missed workdays/y (3.06 million in women, 0.64 million in men)

• Estimated annual cost of migraine was NTD 4873/person

• Estimated cost of NTD 4.6 billion/y due to lost workdays

• Women accounted for ~ 80% of total cost (~ 56% of total cost attributed to women aged 35–54 y)

Tang, 2013 [38]

China / Taiwan

Cross-sectional other: retrospective case-control analysis of NHIRD

1996–2009

Refractory migraine (ICD-9-CM)

936 patients with refractory migraine vs 3743 non-migraine controls

Mean 42 y 76 F

673 patients with refractory migraine vs 2202 with other migraine

Mean age 41–42 y

79–80 F

All analyses adjusted for age, gender, urbanization level, income, and comorbidities

Refractory migraine vs non-migraine adjusted for sociodemographic factors/comorbidity, mean (SD)

Frequency of care:

• Outpatient visits: 35.5 (33.2) vs 16.5 (14.4), P < 0.0001

• Emergency visits: 1.2 (1.3) vs 0.3 (0.3), P < 0.0001

• Hospital admission: 0.7 (0.8) vs 0.3 (0.3), P < 0.0001

• Hospital days: 7.1 (11.5) vs 2.4 (4.7), P < 0.0001

Annual total drug costs per person: NTD 19,752 (USD 608) vs NTD 8660 (USD 266), P < 0.0001

Annual total medical costs per person: NTD 57,932 (USD 1783) vs NTD 26,817 (USD 825), P < 0.0001

Refractory migraine vs other migraine adjusted for sociodemographic factors/comorbidity, mean (SD)

Frequency of care:

• Outpatient visits: 36.3 (23.0) vs 26.2 (12.3), P < 0.0001

• Emergency visits: 1.4 (1.6) vs 0.5 (0.5), P < 0.0001

• Hospital admission: 0.6 (0.8) vs 0.3 (0.3), P < 0.0001

• Hospital days 7.0 (10.9) vs 2.7 (5.1), P < 0.0001

Annual total drug costs per person: NTD 17,623 (USD 542) vs NTD 10,088 (USD 310), P < 0.0001

Annual total medical costs per person: NTD 54,678 (USD 1682) vs NTD 38,397 (USD 1181), P < 0.0001

Takeshima, 2004 [53]

Japan

Population-based

1999

IHS

342 adults

≥20 y 81.6 F

Over the past 3 mo:

• 20.3% had time off work due to headache

• 25.8% with MWA had time off work (mean no. of days: 1.8)

• 19.5% with MOA had time off work (mean no. of days: 3.8)

• 27.3% with MWA were unable to do housework (mean no. of days: 2.0)

• 28.0% with MOA were unable to do housework (mean no. of days: 2.8)

Suzuki, 2014 [52]

Japan

Community-based

2007–2008

ICHD-II

704 Tokyo employees

≥20 y 77.4 F

25.1% had to miss work because of headache

2.7% could not work once per mo

Choi, 2018 [54]

South Korea

Cross-sectional other: prospective disease registry

2016–2018

ICHD-IIIβ

38^a adults

Mean, 37.6 y

15.7 F

Employed patients with migraine compared with employed control patients without headache:

• Experienced difficulty at work (63.9% vs 36.5%)

• Had low productivity (33.3% vs 11.5%)

• Greater sick leave (13.9% vs 3.8%)

Migraine or TTH was significantly associated with difficulties at work after adjustment for health, anxiety, and stress (OR 3.05; 95% CI, 1.10–8.49; P = 0.032)