Going To Work With A Migraine? New Study Says Work Productivity Is The Same As Staying Home

Main Category: Headache / Migraine
Article Date: 16 Sep 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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Employees who go to work with a migraine or stay on the job when they get an attack may be less productive than if they stayed home, according to a new study presented at the 2009 International Headache Congress (IHC) in Philadelphia, hosted by the American Headache Society (AHS).

The study[i] showed that a total of 1301 hours were lost due to presenteeism - staying on the job with a migraine -- while fewer total hours (974) were lost due to absenteeism.

"Migraine sufferers come to work or stay there while enduring extremely severe pain, thinking it's better to be at work than staying home. But migraine suffering in the workplace has a significant negative impact on productivity and lost time too," said lead author Stephen H. Landy, MD., of the Wesley Headache Clinic at the University of Tennessee. "In other words, 'presenteeism' leads to more lost work time than absenteeism."

The prospective study of 509 migraineurs resulting in 1,527 migraine attacks found that 28% of workday migraines resulted in absenteeism while 11% resulted in a full day of work lost, 5% led to a late arrival, and 12% led to leaving work early. Presenteeism - staying at work with a migraine -- was observed in 62% of workday migraines.

Another study[ii] compared impact of work productivity between migraine sufferers with chronic vs. episodic migraine on the job. (Chronic migraine is defined at 15 or more attacks per month; episodic migraine is defined as 0-14 days of headache a month.) Employees who suffer chronic migraine attacks on the job experience almost four times more lost productive time than those with episodic migraine, according the study. Chronic migraine is defined as 15 or more days of headache a month.

The study of more than 11,000 migraine sufferers found that among employed individuals with migraine, the average lost productive time per worker/week specifically due to headache was 4.5 hours for those with chronic migraine compared to 1.2 hours/worker/week for those with low frequency episodic migraine. The authors also found that when those on medical leave were included, 10.4% of employable migraine sufferers with high-frequency episodic migraine and chronic migraine accounted for 34.7% of the overall lost work time.

"Lost work time - whether by absenteeism or reduced productivity while at work - costs this country more than $20 billion a year in both direct medical expenses and in missed work and lower productivity," said Walter F. Stewart, MD, PhD, lead author of the study. "Our purpose was to see how much more chronic migraine costs us than episodic migraine which appears to be substantial."

"These findings underscore the need for more funding for migraine research," said Fred Sheftell, M.D., AHS president. "Migraine sufferers in the workforce - whether they stay at home because of an attack or try to endure the pain and stay there - cost American business enormous amounts in lost time and lost productivity. Beyond the personal pain and disability that employees endure, it is estimated that migraine costs more than $20 billion a year in direct medical expenses and lost time on the job."

More than 400 scientific papers and posters are to be presented during the IHC/AHS meeting which is expected to draw some 1,500 migraine specialists and scientists from around the globe. The meeting is the world's largest professional conference on migraine and headache-related diseases.

[i] Impact of migraine occurrences on work productivity Landy SH1, Runken MC2, Bell CF2, Haskins LS3 and Higbie RL3 1Wesley Headache Clinic, University of Tennessee Medical School, Memphis, TN, USA; 2Health Outcomes, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA; 3Heathcare Research, Harris Interactive, Rochester, NY, USA

[ii] Employment and work impact of headache among episodic and chronic migraine sufferers: results of the American migraine prevalence and prevention (AMPP) study Stewart WF1, Woods GC1, Manack A2, Buse DC3, Varon SF2, Scher AI5, Serrano D4, Reed M4 and Lipton RB3 1Center for Health Research, Geisinger Health System, Danville, PA, USA; 2Epidemiology, Allergan Pharmaceuticals, Irvine, CA, USA; 3Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA; 4Research, Vedanta Research, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; 5Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD, USA

Source
International Headache Society

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