LAUSR

This study is significant to clinicians because migraine is generally common among working age adults. This study also found a startlingly high percentage of migraineurs and other employees with prescriptions for opioids. Clinicians should treat migraines according to accepted treatment guidelines for opioid use. Objective Demographics, health risks, pharmaceutical utilization, and other characteristics of adults with and without migraine who were employed by a school district in the southern United States were compared. Methods A total of 4528 employees completed a health risk appraisal. A diagnosis of migraine was reported by 11%. Employees with and without migraine were compared on several measures. Results Demographic and health risk differences were observed among the comparison groups. One-fifth of migraineurs had a prescription for an opioid, which was associated with very high average annual health care costs ($17,791) compared with migraineurs without opioid ($3907). Conclusions Migraine is common in the workforce. Employers may want to educate employees with migraine about evidence-based treatments. Benefit plan design should be consistent with current accepted treatment guidelines for opioid use.