Indirect costs of migraine in a managed care population

Migraine is a highly prevalent condition that commonly affects individuals during their most productive years. The aggregate cost of providing healthcare for persons with migraine is substantial, but the economic consequences of lost and reduced productivity among this population are greater. This paper presents estimates of the annual indirect costs associated with migraine in a managed-care population. Our estimates include workplace and domestic productivity losses for persons employed outside the home as well as those persons engaged exclusively in domestic production or who are unable to work. We find that migraine is associated with annual indirect costs for men and women, respectively, of $4,548 and $4,897 in 1990 dollars, and that indirect costs increase with headache severity. Further research should continue to emphasize headache's effect on domestic production in order to avoid bias in measuring the economic effect of headache on women.