Abstract
Background: Headaches have not only medical but also great socioeconomic significance, therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the overall impact of headaches on a patient’s life, including their work and work efficiency. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of individual headache types on work and work efficiency. Methods: This research was designed as a cross-sectional study performed by administering a questionnaire among employees. The questionnaire consisted of general questions, questions about headache features, and questions about the impact of headaches on work. Results: Monthly absence from work was mostly represented by migraine sufferers (7.1%), significantly more than with sufferers with tension-type headaches (2.23%; p = 0.019) and other headache types (2.15%; p = 0.025). Migraine sufferers (30.2%) worked in spite of a headache for more than 25 h, which was more frequent than with sufferers from tension-type and other-type headaches (13.4%). On average, headache sufferers reported work efficiency ranging from 66% to 90%. With regard to individual headache types, this range was significantly more frequent in subjects with tension-type headaches, whereas 91–100% efficiency was significantly more frequent in subjects with other headache types. Lower efficiency, i.e., 0–40% and 41–65%, was significantly more frequent with migraine sufferers. Conclusions: Headaches, especially migraines, significantly affect the work and work efficiency of headache sufferers by reducing their productivity. Loss is greater due to reduced efficiency than due to absenteeism.
Highlights
Headaches are one of the most frequent complaints in medicine in general and a frequent disorder in the working population that significantly affects absenteeism and loss of productivity; its effect on work efficiency has been insufficiently studied [1,2,3]
Results presented in this paper show that, out of the 1022 subjects who completed the survey, 579 (56.65%) reported headaches; 169 (16.53%) had migraines, 224 (21.91%) had tension-type headaches (TTHs), and 186 (18.19%) had other headache types
Work absenteeism was most prevalent with migraine sufferers
Summary
Headaches are one of the most frequent complaints in medicine in general and a frequent disorder in the working population that significantly affects absenteeism and loss of productivity; its effect on work efficiency has been insufficiently studied [1,2,3]. Considering that the working population is the mainstay of society, the burden of an employee’s illness cannot only be viewed through the costs of diagnosis and treatment, and through loss incurred due to absence from work and reduced productivity [5,6]. Results: Monthly absence from work was mostly represented by migraine sufferers (7.1%), significantly more than with sufferers with tension-type headaches (2.23%; p = 0.019) and other headache types (2.15%; p = 0.025). Headache sufferers reported work efficiency ranging from 66% to 90%
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