Migraine in the workplace: Work productivity impact in a large US-based healthcare system using a cross-sectional employee survey.

Abstract

Objective: (1) To estimate the impact of migraine on work productivity among employees at a large healthcare system in the United States. (2) To assess the knowledge and perception of migraine among employees and to evaluate the number of employees interested in receiving migraine care to help plan a future workplace migraine education and management program.

Background: Despite advances in treatment, migraine is underdiagnosed and undertreated and remains a leading cause of disability in the world. Workplace migraine education and/or management programs have been shown to improve migraine-related productivity. However, there has not yet been a published organization-wide workplace migraine education and management program in the United States.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional, online survey of employees at a large healthcare system in the Northeast region of the United States that was open from November 1, 2024, to January 3, 2025. Survey questions queried employment status (one question), knowledge and perceptions of migraine (two questions), headache and migraine screen (four questions), productivity impact (two questions), and potential interest in receiving care for headaches (one question).

Results: Out of 33,761 employees, 20,000 were reached via internal communication, 6583 (32.9%) agreed to participate, and 5771 (28.9%) completed the survey. The majority of employees who chose to complete the survey (5337/5771; 92.5%) endorsed having headaches; of these, 59.6% (3183/5337) screened positive on the ID Migraine screen. The participants who screened positive for migraine reported 0.66 missed workdays and 3.77 days with productivity reduced by at least 50% due to migraine in the past 3 months, leading to an estimated lost productive time (LPT) of 10.12 days annually per employee with migraine. Participants reported associating the word "migraine" most closely with headache or pain (4182/5754; 72.7%). Only about half of participants answered the knowledge question correctly (2819/5751; 49.0%). Of the 5771 survey participants, 992 (17.2%) were interested in receiving headache care.

Conclusion: Migraine significantly impacts workplace productivity at a large healthcare system, particularly presenteeism. Migraine tends to be perceived as a headache and about half of the participants did not answer the knowledge question correctly. This survey study supports a need for a workplace migraine education and management program for healthcare workers.