Having a headache costs a lot: over 4 euros in a year. An economic burden that in Italy falls much more on women, affected by migraine twice as much as men (four million cases a year against two million). This is what emerges from the Gema (Gender&Migraine) study by the Center for Research on Health and Social Care Management (Cergas), presented on Wednesday in Rome during a conference.
From the recorded data, Cergas has estimated an annual cost per migraine patient of 4.352 euros, of which:
- 1.100 (25%) for healthcare services,
- 1.524 (36%) for productivity losses,
- 236 (5%) for formal assistance
- 1.492 (34%) for informal assistance
The costs borne by patients for drugs or treatments not covered by the National Health Service have been quantified at 464 euros per year.
According to the survey - carried out on a sample of 607 adult patients with at least 4 migraine days a month - women always lose more days of work (16,8 a year against 13,6 for men) and days of social life (26,4 against 20) and are more subject to the phenomenon of presentism, or to days in which they show up for work feeling unwell (51,6 days against 35,6). Due to a lower income than that of males, however, they spend less on diagnosis and treatment (1.132 euros a year against 1.824) and report a smaller loss of profitability.
“Women seem to be victims of the numerous and fundamental roles they play on a social level – explains Rosanna Tarricone, associate dean of SDA Bocconi and scientific director of the project – They suffer from migraines more than men, but they cannot afford the privilege of absenting themselves from work or set aside traditional household chores. Moreover, having an income on average lower than that of men, women give up having visits and examinations, buying medicines not dispensed by the national health system, undergoing non-medical treatments and receiving formal assistance".
Starting from the evidence that emerged on the cost of the pathology and "on the different impact that migraine produces on women - concludes Tarricone - the study aims to support the development of gender-differentiated health and social-health policies, with the aim to fill the existing gap in a logic of redistributive equity".
