Blog #7: Deep impact. The truth about migraine

6 Aug

Deep impact. The truth about migraine.jpg

Living with migraine disease often means putting on a brave face. Migraine attacks aren’t fatal, and many of us just push through the pain because we’ve got a million things we need to do.

It also doesn’t help that migraine disease is invisible and is often misunderstood, undiagnosed and under-treated.

But migraine disease has a huge impact on people, and I bet there’s more than one person you know who’s hiding how debilitating they are.

The deep impact of migraine disease

According to the New Zealand Neurological Foundation, 1 in 10 Kiwis has migraine.

That’s roughly 500,000 Kiwis.

That’s huge.

The Migraine Trust in the UK states migraine is more prevalent than diabetes, epilepsy and asthma combined.

In 2017, headache disorder was number 3 on the list of what health problems cause the most disability in New Zealand. This statistic is from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent population health research centre at the University of Washington. IHME provides comparable measurement of the world's most important health problems and evaluates the strategies used to address them.

In 2018, an article was published in The Lancet Neurology, a research, review, opinion and news journal covering international issues relevant to neurologists worldwide. The Global, regional, and national burden of migraine and tension-type headache, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016, concluded headache as a major global public health concern. It’s most burdensome in women aged 15−49 and over 1 billion people worldwide have migraine disease, a statistic endorsed by the American Migraine Foundation.

In 2018, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Australia Pty Ltd funded a whitepaper to raise awareness of migraine, highlight the socio-economic burden of migraine in Australia and educate and inform key stakeholders.

We have a lot in common with our cousins across the ditch. Because a comparative report hasn’t been done in New Zealand, I think it’s fair to assume our numbers would be fairly similar to Australia.

Key findings of the Migraine in Australia Whitepaper

4.9 million people in Australia suffer from migraine. 71% of migraine sufferers are women and 86% are of working age.

That’s about 20% of the population of Australia.

20% of our population is a little under 1,000,000 people. One million Kiwis affected by migraine. This is a higher statistic than from the Neurological Foundation but even if we meet in the middle, that’s 750,000 people with migraine in New Zealand. As per this blog, where the heck are you all?

7.6% of Australians with migraine experience a severe form of migraine known as chronic migraine, defined as 15 or more migraine days per month.

Fair to say we may be about the same.

The cost of chronic migraine is $21,706 per person and $6,137 per person with episodic migraine. These figures take into account healthcare costs, productivity loses and carer and welfare support.

An important figure when you think about it in relation to the cost of Botox and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) medications. Makes funding Botox (are you listening district health boards?) and CGRP medications look quite cheap.

People with chronic migraine are 19% less likely to be in paid employment than the general population. For people with episodic migraine this figure is 2.8%.
People with chronic migraine have a 6.8% reduction in productivity while at work, and people with episodic migraine have a 2.2% reduction.
The total economic cost of migraine in Australia is $35.7 billion.

Economics isn’t one of my strengths but I don’t think I’m wrong in assuming if it’s $35.7 billion for Australia, it’s also a fair whack of cash for New Zealand.

Okay, I’m sure you get the point. Migraine disease has a huge impact on individuals, families and the wider society. We need to raise awareness of the socioeconomic burden of migraine disease in New Zealand. And we need to do it now.

Migraine disease tends to run in families. For some unknown reason our migraine genes continue to stand the test of time. If life really is survival of the fittest, I’d love to know what benefit migraine disease is to our population. I know we are superhuman in our resolve to not let migraine disease get the better of us, but there must be another undiscovered reason (other than our great looks) that makes us desirable to others who want to pro-create with us.

So, if you have migraine disease, know you’re not alone. And know that I’m determined to make our voice heard in New Zealand to help increase awareness and support.

Join the conversation on Facebook or send me an email: sarah@sayline.co.nz