REAL-WORLD REFERRAL PATTERNS AND HEALTHCARE UTILIZATION OF HEADACHE DISORDER PATIENTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM (UK)
Author(s)
Paula Chu, PhD1, Ryan Irvine, MS2;
1Organon International GmbH, Lucerne, Switzerland, 2Organon, Jersey City, NJ, USA
1Organon International GmbH, Lucerne, Switzerland, 2Organon, Jersey City, NJ, USA
OBJECTIVES: Most headache care should be initiated and managed in primary care, with certain cases necessitating a specialist. However, a large European survey found that many patients that could not be managed in primary care were not referred to specialists. This study aimed to characterize referral patterns and resource utilization of headache patients in the UK.
METHODS: A retrospective database analysis using anonymized electronic health records from The Health Improvement Network from the UK was performed with a study period of 1 December 2016 to 31 October 2022. Adults were identified based on International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 codes for migraine and other headache disorders. Patients were indexed at their first headache-specific diagnosis made by their GP and followed until the end of the study period, having a minimum of 1 year followup. To compare outcomes, patients were matched 1:1 on sex, care site, year of birth, and length of followup with a patient having no history of headache disorder diagnoses.
RESULTS: Over forty-four thousand headache disorder patients were identified and matched with a control. Mean age at diagnosis was 44 years and 72% of headache patients were female. Headache patients had almost double the number of annual all-cause visits to the GP than controls [mean (standard deviation (SD)): 7.09 (6.2) versus 3.62 (4.01)]. Over half (52.9%) of headache patients were referred to any specialized care after diagnosis. The most referrals by specialty were to neurology, followed by surgery and obstetrics & gynecology. It took on average about 1.5 years (554 days) for a first referral to be made for a headache patient.
CONCLUSIONS: Primary care resource utilization is higher amongst headache patients, who visit the GP at almost twice the rate of those without headaches. Depiction of current healthcare utilization and referral patterns may help optimize care infrastructure.
METHODS: A retrospective database analysis using anonymized electronic health records from The Health Improvement Network from the UK was performed with a study period of 1 December 2016 to 31 October 2022. Adults were identified based on International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 codes for migraine and other headache disorders. Patients were indexed at their first headache-specific diagnosis made by their GP and followed until the end of the study period, having a minimum of 1 year followup. To compare outcomes, patients were matched 1:1 on sex, care site, year of birth, and length of followup with a patient having no history of headache disorder diagnoses.
RESULTS: Over forty-four thousand headache disorder patients were identified and matched with a control. Mean age at diagnosis was 44 years and 72% of headache patients were female. Headache patients had almost double the number of annual all-cause visits to the GP than controls [mean (standard deviation (SD)): 7.09 (6.2) versus 3.62 (4.01)]. Over half (52.9%) of headache patients were referred to any specialized care after diagnosis. The most referrals by specialty were to neurology, followed by surgery and obstetrics & gynecology. It took on average about 1.5 years (554 days) for a first referral to be made for a headache patient.
CONCLUSIONS: Primary care resource utilization is higher amongst headache patients, who visit the GP at almost twice the rate of those without headaches. Depiction of current healthcare utilization and referral patterns may help optimize care infrastructure.
Conference/Value in Health Info
2026-05, ISPOR 2026, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Value in Health, Volume 29, Issue S6
Code
SA40
Topic
Study Approaches
Disease
SDC: Neurological Disorders