Improving care through health economics analyses: cost of illness and headache

Abstract

The impact of headache disorders is a problem of enormous proportions, both for individual and society. The medical literature tried to assess its effects on individuals, by examining prevalence, distribution, attack frequency and duration, and headache-related disability, as well as effects on society, looking at the socio-economic burden of headache disorders [Rasmussen (Cephalalgia 19:20–23, 1999)]; [Lanteri-Minet et al. (Pain 102:143–149, 2003)]. The issue of costs represents an important problem too, concerning both direct and indirect costs. Direct costs concern mainly expenses for drugs. Migraine has a considerable impact on functional capacity, resulting in disrupted work and social activities: many migraineurs do not seek medical attention because they have not been accurately diagnosed by a physician or do not use prescribed medication [Solomon and Price (Pharmacoeconomics 11:1–10, 1997)]. Indirect costs associated with reduced productivity represent a substantial proportion of the total cost of migraine as well. Migraine has a major impact on the working sector of the population, and therefore, determining the indirect costs outweighs the direct costs. This study will explain the notion of cost of illness, examining how it could be applied in such a framework. Then, an overview of the studies aimed at measuring direct and indirect costs of migraine and headache disorders will be carried out, later shifting on to the relationship between costs and quality of life for people affected by headache disorders. Finally, a brief review on advantages of new pharmaceuticals and preventive treatments for migraine for patients and society will outline improvements in the context of cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analysis.

The social impact of dizziness in London and Siena

“…However, since dizziness is such a commonly encountered symptom [6,15,17], both in the population, primary care and secondary care [17], this finding highlights the potential global economic impact of dizziness on European society as a whole. Again, although attempts have been made in the headache literature to quantify such impacts in the form of health economics analyses [13], the economic impact of dizziness remains unknown and deserves to be researched.…”

Assessing the Impact of Migraine Onset on Work Productivity

“…[3][4][5][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Nevertheless, there is debate as to the proportional contribution of absenteeism compared to presenteeism, with the latter gaining more attention over the years. 3,8,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] The American Migraine Study revealed that 51% of women and 38% of men experienced six or more lost workday equivalents each year as a result of migraine attacks, two-thirds of which were attributed to reduced effectiveness at work rather than to actual absenteeism. 12 Meanwhile, Hu et al 8 found missed workdays to outnumber lost workday-equivalents for female migraine sufferers (68.9 million missed days vs 41.6 million lost work-equivalents), though not for males.…”

Instrumental Exams Performance Can Be a Contributing Factor to the Delay in Diagnosis of Migraine

“…In addition to the direct consequences on individual patients, physicians' fondness for instrumental investigations is also a public health problem and a cause of inappropriate use of economic resources [24,25]. The cost of migraine in Europe is estimated at EUR 27 billion annually [25,26]. However, the total cost should be diversified according with the migraine type.…”