Healio
Healio

American Headache Society Annual Meeting
July 13, 2019
3 min read
Save

Women more likely to experience migraine than men

PHILADELPHIA — The incidence of migraine among all U.S. adults stands at 2.2%, with 3.3% of those cases in women and 1.6% of those cases were in men, according to study results presented at the American Headache Society Annual Scientific Meeting.

The finding is based on 95,821 participants of the Migraine in America Symptoms and Treatment Study, or MAST.

“There are many migraine prevalence studies that have been done, but MAST is one of the few incidence studies involving migraine,” Richard B. Lipton, MD, and director of the Montefiore Headache Center at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said.

Other data from the MAST study presented at the meeting included:

  • Compared to the 80,688 persons surveyed without migraine, the 15,133 patients with migraine were significantly more likely to have their doctor confirm a self-diagnosis of insomnia (OR = 3.79; 95% CI, 3.6-3.98), anxiety (OR = 3.18; 95% CI, 3.04-3.32), depression (OR = 3.18; 95% CI, 3.03-3.32), gastric ulcers (OR = 3.11; 95% CI, 2.81-3.45), angina (OR = 2.64; 95% CI, 2.36-2.95) and epilepsy [OR = 2.33; 95% CI 1.96-2.76)..
  • The odds of the 15,133 patients with migraine having other health conditions increased as monthly headache days increased; patients with 1 to 4 monthly headache days were almost 3 times as likely to experience insomnia (OR = 2.94) while patients with 21 or more monthly headache days were almost 8 times as likely to experience insomnia (OR = 7.91) as those who did not have migraine. According to researchers, a similar pattern was observed for gastric ulcer: 1 to 4 monthly headache days OR = 2.61; 21 or more days OR = 5.91. Nearly identical tendencies were also observed for anxiety, depression and epilepsy.
  • The 686 respondents with migraine and gastric ulcer disease were more likely to report moderate to severe headache-related disability (56.7% vs. 42.6%), high monthly headache day frequency (16.1% vs. 9.3%,) and poor or very poor acute treatment optimization (44.4% vs. 34.3%) than patients who did not have ulcer disease.
  • Mean days of NSAID use was higher in patients with gastric ulcer disease than those without the condition (10.5% vs. 6.1%). In those with the disease, NSAID use increased incrementally from 5 days per month for those with up to 4 monthly headache days to 19.1 days per month of NSAID use for those with 21 monthly headache days.
  • 4.9% of 10,093 respondents who were employed missed scheduled work in the past week; 31.5% worked while experiencing impairment from their headache.
  • Photophobia was the most common most bothersome symptom reported by 6,045 patients with migraine (49.1%), followed by nausea (28.1%) and phonophobia (22.8%).
  • Prescription opioid users were significantly more likely to visit the ED or urgent care (OR = 3.6; 95% CI, 3.1-4.1) as were ergotamine users (OR = 11.4; 95% CI, 7.8-16.78), subcutaneous triptan users (OR = 6.2; 95% CI, 4.48-8.55), intranasal triptan users (OR = 3.9; 95% CI, 3.12-5.09) and oral triptan users (OR = 2.09; 95% CI, 1.81-2.44).

Lipton, who has studied headaches for about 3 decades, said the results were surprising.

“Not surprisingly the age group at highest risk for migraine was the youngest group studied, those persons who were 18 to 24 years old. But somewhat surprisingly, while the incidence among men and women in that age group was similar, as the ages of participants increased, the incidence declined and the incidence percentage gap between men and women got larger,” he said. – by Janel Miller

References:

Buse D, et al. Rates of associated health conditions in those with migraine vs. non-migraine controls: Results from the 2017 Migraine in America Symptoms and Treatment (MAST) study. Presented at: American Headache Society Annual Scientific Meeting; July 11-14, 2019; Philadelphia.

Lipton R, et al. One-Year incidence of migraine in the U.S. population: Results from the Migraine in America Symptoms and Treatment (MAST) study. Presented at: American Headache Society Annual Scientific Meeting; July 11-14, 2019; Philadelphia.

Lipton R, et al. Prevalence of Gastric Ulcer Disease (UD) and association with NSAID Use Among Persons with Migraine: Results from the Migraine in America Symptoms and Treatment (MAST) study. Presented at: American Headache Society Annual Scientific Meeting; July 11-14, 2019; Philadelphia.

Factors associated with most bothersome non-headache migraine symptom (nausea, photophobia and phonophobia): Results from the Migraine in America Symptoms and Treatment (MAST) study. Presented at: American Headache Society Annual Scientific Meeting; July 11-14, 2019; Philadelphia.

Headache frequency, disability, treatment optimization and medication use patterns in persons with migraine and co-morbid gastric ulcer disease (UD): Results from Migraine in America Symptoms and Treatment (MAST) study. Presented at: American Headache Society Annual Scientific Meeting; July 11-14, 2019; Philadelphia.

Identifying Sociodemographics and symptoms associated with emergency department and urgent care use in people with migraine: Survey results from Migraine in America Symptoms and Treatment study. Presented at: American Headache Society Annual Scientific Meeting; July 11-14, 2019; Philadelphia.

Impact of monthly headache day frequency on work productivity and impairment in non-work activities among persons with migraine: Results from the Migraine in America Symptoms and Treatment study. Presented at: American Headache Society Annual Scientific Meeting; July 11-14, 2019; Philadelphia.

Schwedt T, et al. Headache treatment pattern and co-morbid health burden associated with emergency department and urgent care use in people with migraine: Survey results from Migraine in America Symptoms and Treatment study.Presented at: American Headache Society Annual Scientific Meeting; July 11-14, 2019; Philadelphia.

Disclosures: Healio Primary Care was unable to determine the authors’ relevant financial disclosures prior to publication.