Before we delve more deeply into the details of what causes Migraine headaches disease, symptoms of migraine, types of  migraine and treatment for migraine, it will help no have some background information about how many people are affected by Migraine disease and. headaches, and some basics on the different kinds of head pain disorders will give us a base to build upon.

"Not only is headache painful, but headache disorders are also disabling. Worldwide, according to the Worldl Health Organization, Migraine alone is 19th among all causes of years lived with disability. Headache disorders impose recognizable burden on sufferers, including sometimes substantial personal suffering, impaired quality of life and financial cost.

Repeated headache attacks, and often the constant fear of the next one, damage family life, social life, and employment. For example, social activity and work capacity are reduced in almost all Migraine sufferers and in 60% of TTH {tension-type head-ache} sufferers."
—Frorn the Worid Health Organizatio

"Migraineurs required 3.8 bed rest days for men and 5.6 days for women each year, resulting in a total of 112 million bedridden days. Migraine costs American employers about $13 billion a year because of missed workday and impaired work function: close in $8 billion was directly due to missed workdays. Patients of both sexes aged 30 to 49 years incurred higher indirect costs compared with younger or older employed patients. Annual direct medical costs for migraine care were about $1 billion, and about $100 was spent per diagnosed patient. Physician office visits accounted for about 60% of all costs: in contrast, emergency department visits contributed iess than 1% of the direct costs."
—Hu XH et al.
"Burden of migraine in the United States: disability and economic costs." Archives of Internal Medicine.

The Human and Ecunnmlc Impact ut Migraine Headaches Disease 

The preceding statistics are strartling for more than one reason. Not only do they show how much time Migraineurs lose to Migraine, but when carefully examined. the $100 spent per diagnosed patient makes it clear that must Migraineurs aren’t getting the care we need and deserve. Think about it. That $100 will barely cover one office visit. That substantiates something we already know—Migraine is a very underdiagnosed and undertreated disease.

Here is more information about how many people are affected by Migraine headaches disease and the economic impact:

• Tension-type headaches and Migraine disease are the two most cornmon head pain disorders.
• Of the people who consult their primary care physician for head pain, 94 percent have symptoms of Migraine headaches disease or Migraine type headache.
• More than 90 percent of patients who go to their doctor for what they think are sinus headaches actually have Migraine headache disease.
• Migraine headaches disease affects 18 % of women and 6-8% of men. Those percentages convert to the following statistics:

* Nearly 33 million Migraineurs in the United States. This is more than the 32 million sufferers of asthma, diabetes. and coronary heart disease combined.

* More than 7.5 million Migraineurs In the United Kingdom.

* More than 4 million Migraineurs in Canada.

• In developed countries, tension-type headache affects two-thirds of adult males and over 80 percent of females. Once again. let's see some numbers from those percentages;

* Nearly 200 million people in the United States.

* More than 43 million people In the United Kingdorn.

* More than 23 million people in Canada.

• Migraine attacks result in 112 million bedridden days per year for U.S. Migraineurs alone.
• The best estimate is that the cost to US. industry of absenteeism and reduced productivity due to Migraine is $ 13 bilIion per year.