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.

中文翻译：

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偏头痛的社会经济负担：基于德国人口研究对偏头痛导致的生产力损失的评估。

背景

这项研究估计了偏头痛对德国成年人 1 年内有偿和无偿工作生产力的社会经济影响。

方法

我们使用了一项基于人群的纵向研究的头痛频率数据（每月天数）。偏头痛的患病率估计来自全球疾病负担协作网络。人口统计数据来自 2017 年的官方统计数据。 根据对出勤率和缺勤率的估计以及其他社会经济参数，1 年内的总头痛天数转化为有偿和无偿生产时间的损失。失去的带薪工时分布在各个行业。通过这种方式，计算出带薪工时损失的特定于年龄、性别和行业部门的货币价值。通过将无偿活动分配给最近的市场替代品来评估损失的无偿工作时间。在最后一步中，使用从投入产出表得出的增值乘数来计算经济价值链效应。

结果

德国共有 1550 万人（20 岁或以上）患有偏头痛。我们的分析表明，其中 60% 的人每月头痛天数不超过 3 天，而慢性偏头痛患者（每月头痛天数超过 15 天）占成人偏头痛人群的 5.4%。在每年 8.36 亿天的头痛天数中，女性占 65%。一年内因偏头痛造成的社会经济损失达 1004 亿欧元（平均每位患者 6493 欧元）。

结论

除了在有偿工作中损失时间之外，偏头痛还由于其在女性中的不成比例的流行而给无偿工作活动造成了巨大的社会经济损失。经济价值链效应为超越患者时间损失的损失提供了新的视角。总体而言，社会经济负担的要素提供了一个强有力的理由，即创新的偏头痛疗法可能对社会具有很高的价值。