Abstract
BackgroundDespite guideline recommendations, the limited benefits and failure of prophylactic treatment in patients with migraine have been reported. This study aimed to estimate the incremental burden (i.e., healthcare resource use and cost) of disease in patients who received at least one prophylactic treatment compared to those who did not.MethodsThis study analyzed the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service database, which covers the entire population of Korea from December 2014 to November 2019. We included adult patients with migraine (≥18 years) who had ≥1 claim with migraine diagnosis (G43) or received ≥1 prescription of triptan or ergotamine between December 2015 and November 2018. We defined two groups: (1) migraine patients who received at least one prophylactic treatment (prophylaxis group) and (2) migraine patients who never received prophylactic treatments (non-prophylaxis group). We performed propensity score matching to balance the baseline covariates between the two groups. In a matched cohort, we estimated healthcare resource use and costs in terms of outpatient visits, outpatient visits to neurologists, emergency department (ED) visits, and hospitalizations.ResultsAfter matching, 633,709 and 633,709 patients were identified in the prophylaxis and non-prophylaxis groups, respectively. The healthcare resource utilization was significantly higher in the prophylaxis group than in the non-prophylaxis group in terms of the number of outpatient visits (2.34 vs 1.70), outpatient visits to neurologists (2.23 vs 1.61), ED visits (1.07 vs 1.05), and hospitalizations (1.12 vs 1.09) (all P < 0.05). The estimated annual costs per patient were significantly higher in the prophylaxis group than in the non-prophylaxis group for outpatient (102.37 USD vs. 62.46 USD), neurology outpatient (141.80 USD vs. 120.30 USD), and ED visits (550.51 USD vs. 234.14 USD) and hospitalization (817.01 USD vs. 645.97 USD) (all P < 0.001).ConclusionsMigraine patients who received ≥1 prophylactic treatment had a higher burden of disease than migraine patients who received no prophylaxis. This indicates that despite migraine prophylaxis, the migraine-related disease burden remains high, and more efficient migraine prophylaxis strategies are needed.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
