The economic cost of migraine. Present state of knowledge.

The costs of medical care and lost productivity associated with migraine headache impose an economic burden on society. Knowledge of the costs that can be attributed to migraine would provide a basis for evaluating alternative diagnosis and treatment strategies. The most widely used approaches to analyzing the cost of illness analysis are the willingness-to-pay and human capital methods. Using these as a framework, all recent published studies (from 1980 to the present) relevant to the economic cost of migraine were reviewed. The literature reviewed demonstrates that the economic burden of migraine headache is substantial. To estimate the cost of migraine to society more precisely, data are needed on incidence and prevalence among carefully selected samples representative of the underlying population. Use of medical care must be expressed as units of specific types of services rendered over known periods. Health insurance coverage, an important determinant of access to care, should also be known. Absenteeism and work losses must be linked to occupation and earnings levels.