Economic Burden of Chronic Migraine in OECD countries: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Abstract Background Chronic migraine (CM) is a headache disorder leading cause of disability worldwide. The condition is diagnosed when patients experience at least 15 headache days per month for at least three months. Due to the severe nature of CM, the illness is associated with a significant social, physical, and financial burden. Determining the costly components and overall economic burden of CM can help guide health policy decision-making. Thus, the objective of this systematic review is to summarise the economic burden of chronic migraines in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and analyze the methodology and findings of chronic migraine cost of illness studies Methods Databases (including MEDLINE, Embase and CINAHL) were searched with a broad search strategy for studies that estimated the cost of illness of chronic migraines. The articles were limited to the English Language, from inception to October 2021 and only findings from OECD countries. Methodology features and key findings were extracted from the studies. The costs stated by the articles were converted to GBP to allow comparisons. Results The search identified thirteen eligible cost-of-illness studies conducted in OECD countries. The findings exhibited considerable direct and indirect costs associated with chronic migraine. The direct costs for chronic migraine ranged from GBP 1,754.52 to GBP 8,219.46 annually per person. In addition, hospitalisation and drugs cost was revealed to be profoundly burdensome direct healthcare cost. Whereas indirect costs ranged from £2579.07 to £48,810, and the total annual cost ranged from £6,443.41 to 53,446.38. Conclusion CM has a substantially high cost of illness across multiple OECD countries. However, there is a lack of research estimating the cost of illness. Current research is also limited to a low number of OECD countries. In addition, indirect costs are infrequently considered. Thus, there is an opportunity for further research in this area.