Migraine is the third most common disease in the world: Study

Migraine Awareness Week is going on this week and according to a survey, an alarming number of 8.5million people in the UK only suffer from it.

Migraine is the third most common disease in the world, with an estimated global prevalence of one in seven people. Despite being recognized as one of the most disabling lifetime conditions, awareness and understanding is low.

The EMHA (European Migraine and Headache Alliance) together with the AEEMT (Spanish Association of Specialists in Occupational Medicine) is setting up a European Project with the aim of knowing the real situation of migraine workers within companies and that will constitute the starting point for further improvement initiatives, the implementation of preventive measures as well as to compare the situation between participating countries.

The ideal target achievable is around 500/1000 responses per country depending on the number of inhabitants.

Last May 11th, the project ” migraine at work” was presented during the MHIPAS organized by EMHA in Amsterdam and from next June 1st it will be launched in the following countries: Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, England, and Norway.

There’s a promising new treatment on the horizon, subject to approval for use in the NHS. Aimovig, also known as erenumab, represents the first significant progress in migraine medication for 20 years and is the only drug developed specifically to prevent it. It could halve some sufferers’ migraine days and, because it’s not a repurposed drug, may have fewer side effects.

Migraine is the third most common disease in the world yet there’s no cure, no conclusive cause, and no definitive test to diagnose it.

Around 200,000 people have an attack each day. Work Foundation estimates that 86million workdays are lost to migraine at a cost of £8.8billion each year in lost productivity. The direct cost to the NHS is around £1billion annually.