OBJECTIVES: Migraine is a highly prevalent and incapacitating neurological disorder often underdiagnosed and undertreated. Consequently, despite leading to considerable lost productivity and disability, migraine is often associated with relatively low healthcare costs. This study adapted a published modelling framework to estimate the fiscal burden of migraine using the Colombian government’s perspective of costs.

METHODS: The model simulated the age and occupation-specific fiscal pathways of the entire population with prevalent migraine and compared it to an identical cohort without the condition, capturing tax revenue, transfer payments (disability benefits, pensions), and public healthcare expenditure. Demographic data, migraine prevalence, and cost inputs were extracted from recently published Colombian studies, and official databases. The effect of migraine on occupational outcomes was sourced from peer-reviewed manuscripts. Results were synthesized as incremental fiscal consequences representing the overall fiscal burden of a cohort with mixed migraine severity to the Colombian government. An additional scenario was conducted for a subpopulation with chronic migraine. All cost were expressed in 2022 Colombian pesos (COP).

RESULTS: A total of 813,208 adults were estimated to be affected by migraine annually, with 83.9% being females. The fiscal burden of migraine in the entire population was estimated to cost the Colombian government 256,292M COP in 2022. This was equivalent to 0.02% of Colombian gross domestic product and 0.3% of the annual public healthcare spending. Total annual gross income losses to individuals were estimated to be 311,388M COP and 382,913 COP per average person.

CONCLUSIONS: This fiscal analysis monetizes the direct and indirect economic burden of migraine to the Colombian government, providing a valuable insight to decision-makers. The findings highlight important consequences of migraine to the labour market, especially in terms of reduced productivity and personal income losses due to foregone employment.