Shock migraine report sparks action plea

Highlighting the enormous burden of migraine in the UK, a new report – titled Society's headache: the socioeconomic impact of migraine - will be launched today in the Houses of Parliament.

New figures that show growing levels of UK migraine sufferers and rising bills for lost work production today bring calls for urgent government and employment moves.

The annual number of workdays lost has soared to 86 million, through absenteeism, and presenteeism, working while sick.

The annual cost to the British economy has jumped to around £8.8 billion ($12.33 billion).

These statistics come from the first study on the economic burden of migraine for 15 years.

The report - from the think-tank The Work Foundation, and funded by the pharmaceutical company Novartis (NOVN: VX) - says almost one in four adults (23.3%), 11.8 million, face migraine.

The economic figures compare with 2003 research on the cost of migraine. 

This put the UK cost of absenteeism from migraine at £2.25 billion a year, calculated on the basis of 25 million lost days.

The number of sufferers cited in the latest research contrasts with a 2013 study which estimated a global prevalence of 14.7%, about one in seven people.

Migraine is the most common and disabling neurological condition in Britain, with a greater prevalence than diabetes, epilepsy and asthma combined.

People aged 16-65 experience around 200,000 attacks every day.

The charity The Migraine Trust pinpoints the fact that only half of all people with migraine see a doctor and nearly one in five has lost a job through the condition.

It backs the report's proposals for the government and national bodies to develop a joint long-term strategy for better care across employment and health systems.

The strategy would aim to: