OBJECTIVES : To investigate the burden of disease in people with migraine compared to those not having migraine experience in Japan.

METHODS : Data was collected from the online National Health & Wellness Survey 2017 Japan (N=30,001). Respondents with self-reported physician diagnosis of migraine and without migraine experience were 1:1 propensity score matched (age, Charlson Comorbidity Index, gender, employment status, household income, smoking status, and alcohol use). One-way analysis of variance test was performed to compare outcomes: Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL: SF-12 version 2 (SF-12v2), EQ-5D-5L), Work productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI), and Healthcare Resource Utilization (HRU).

RESULTS : 1,265 controls from 25,209 non-migraine respondents were matched with 1,265 migraine patients, and comparison of outcomes between the two groups was conducted. All Component Summary (Physical: PCS, Mental: MCS, and Role/social: RCS) scores of SF-12v2 were significantly lower in migraine patients than matched controls (PCS: 48.36 vs. 51.29, MCS: 44.65 vs. 48.31, and RCS 41.78 vs. 46.18, p<0.001). Migraine patients had significantly lower EQ-5D index (0.77 vs 0.86, p<0.001) and visual analogue scale score (64.41 vs. 73.49, p<0.001) compared to the control group. Migraine patients reported higher impairment to work productivity (absenteeism: 6.95% vs 3.07%; presenteeism: 32.73% vs 18.94%; total work productivity impairment: 34.82% vs 20.03%, p<0.001) and more visits to physicians in the past 6 months (8.38 vs 4.57, p<0.001) compared to the control group.

CONCLUSIONS : We found that migraine patients in Japan experience a significant burden of illness compared to matched controls without migraine in terms of lower HRQoL, higher WPAI and HRU.