Impact of migraine on the employed labor force in Taiwan

Background: To estimate the economic impact of migraine on the employed labor force in Taiwan. Methods: The age- and sex-specific migraine prevalence rates, self-reported missed workdays due to migraine, and monthly income were obtained from 3,377 subjects of a community-based headache questionnaire survey in the greater Taipei area. The migraine-related loss was projected to the whole Taiwanese population based on statistics from the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics of the Executive Yuan, Taiwan. Results: People suffering from migraines had a median of 2 missed workdays due to migraine in the year prior to the survey. It is estimated that there are about 1.7 million people who have migraines over the course of 1 year in Taiwan. Migraine resulted in 3.7 million estimated missed workdays and an estimated cost of NT$4.6 billion due to loss of workdays in 2005. Employed migrainous women aged 35-54 years accounted for 56% of the cost. Conclusion: Migraine is related to high work absence rates and causes significant economic loss to the society in Taiwan.