Migraine Calculator Developed By HSM & PhRMA

Facts at a Glance:

Approximately 28 million Americans suffer from severe migraine headaches.   Migraines are most prevalent among 30-49 year olds, who are in their productive working years, and they are three times more common in females than males (18% of females vs. 6.5% of males).  Migraine symptoms are extremely disabling, often causing intense pulsing and throbbing pain, nausea and vomiting, sensitivity to light and sound and even speech and visual disturbances in some cases.  The average headache attack can last 4-72 hours if untreated or unsuccessfully treated.  Reoccurrence rates vary.  Within a three month timeframe, women suffer an average of 7.6 days whereas men suffer 7 days. It is estimated that a person with migraines will miss at least 1 day of work/school every three months. In addition to absenteeism, 51% reported that work or school productivity was reduced by at least 50%.  In summary, the combination of missed days, lower productivity when on the job, and other associated issues costs American employers approximately $13 billion per year.

Purpose for Migraine Calculator:

The HSM Group and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) have jointly developed a “Migraine Calculator” tool, called the Productivity Impact Model (PI Model), to help employers see a snapshot of financial benefits for their company if they assist their employees who are battling migraines.   This new, easy-to-use, Internet-based migraine calculator will tell benefit coordinators for companies of any size, an estimate of the financial benefits of providing treatment options to their employees just by going through a few, simple steps of entering company specific information (i.e. company size, type of industry and location, and age/gender breakdown).   The calculator computes the savings by using carefully crafted formulas based on established clinical research and applying them to the individual company’s workforce to determine the incidence of migraines, expected number of days each year that employees will be absent or suffer low productivity (due to migraines) and associated costs to the business.  The migraine calculator also provides a projected net savings employers can expect if they provide treatment options to employees suffering from migraines.  Essentially, the migraine calculator arms employers with information about the implications of migraines for their workplace, providing an incentive for early, aggressive treatment for this condition.

Conclusion:

It can be very difficult for people to predict the onset of migraine headaches.   There are only two ways to treat migraines: prevent the attack by identifying the “trigger” to their migraines (i.e. lack of food or sleep, anxiety/stress, hormonal changes, etc) or treat the attacks when they happen.  The good news is that migraines can be treated, which can be a win-win situation for both the employer and employee.