Disability, HRQoL and resource use among chronic and episodic migraineurs: results from the International Burden of Migraine Study (IBMS).
BACKGROUND
Migraine imposes significant burden on patients, their families and health care systems. In this study, we compared episodic to chronic migraine sufferers to determine if migraine status predicted headache-related disability, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and health care resource utilization.


METHODS
A Web-based survey was administered to panelists from nine countries. Participants were classified as having chronic migraine (CM), episodic migraine (EM) or neither using a validated questionnaire. Data collected and then analyzed included sociodemographics, clinical characteristics, Migraine Disability Assessment, Migraine-Specific Quality of Life v2.1, Patient Health Questionnaire and health care resource utilization.


RESULTS
Of the respondents, 5.7% had CM and 94.3% had EM, with CM patients reporting significantly more severe disability, lower HRQoL, higher levels of anxiety and depression and greater health care resource utilization compared to those with EM.


CONCLUSIONS
These results provide evidence that will enhance our understanding of the factors driving health care costs and will contribute to development of cost-effective health care strategies.
Blumenfeld
A M
AM
The Neurology Center, 320 Santa Fe Drive, Encinitas, CA 92024, USA. blumenfeld@neurocenter.com
Varon
S F
SF
Wilcox
T K
TK
Buse
D C
DC
Kawata
A K
AK
Manack
A
A
Goadsby
P J
PJ
Lipton
R B
RB
D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003625:Data Collection; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006295:Health Resources / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D009862:Online Systems; D011788:Quality of Life