Survey results on lost workdays and decreased work effectiveness associated with headache in the workplace.

Adapted from a report by  Schwartz BS, Stewart WF, Lipton RB of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md, USA.

During 1993 and 1994 in Baltimore County, Maryland,  13,343 study subjects were contacted by random-digit dialing and interviewed about their headaches. Headache diagnoses were assigned using Internationally recognised criteria for migraine and tension-type headaches.  Measures of workplace impact were derived based on self-reports of missing work due to headache, and frequency and magnitude of reduced work level because of headache.:

The following figures were reported from the 13,343 respondents whose work was impacted by headaches:

9.4% took time off work

31% reported reduced work level

9.2% reported reduced work level by more than 50% .

In accounting for both actual lost workdays and reduced effectiveness at work, individuals lost the equivalent of 4.2 days per year because of headache.

Different effects of Migraines and Tension type headaches

57% of the 9922 annual estimated actual lost workdays were due to migraine, and 43% were due to tension-type and other headache types.  64% off the 23,287 annual estimated reduced effectiveness workday equivalents were due to tension-type and other headache types  whereas 36% were due to migraine, showing that subjects with migraine headache were much more likely to report actual lost workdays because of headache, whereas tension-type and other headache types accounted for a large proportion of decreased work effectiveness because of headache.

The report drew the following conclusion:  “The results have implications regarding the control of indirect costs in the workplace because of headache, and on workplace-based treatment and prevention programs”. (Adapted. Click here for original text.)