Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Oct;17(4):546-557.
doi: 10.3988/jcn.2021.17.4.546.

Disability and Economic Loss Caused by Headache among Information Technology Workers in Korea

Byung Kun Kim  1 , Soo Jin Cho  2 , Chang Soo Kim  3 , Fumihiko Sakai  4 , David W Dodick  5 , Min Kyung Chu  6
Affiliations

Disability and Economic Loss Caused by Headache among Information Technology Workers in Korea

Byung Kun Kim et al. J Clin Neurol. 2021 Oct.

Abstract

Background and purpose: Headache disorders are a leading cause of disability globally. However, there is inadequate information available about these disorders and the related economic loss in the workplace in Asian countries. Information technology (IT) jobs are intellectually and cognitively challenging, and hence IT workers are a suitable population for assessing headache disorders and related economic loss.

Methods: We sent invitation emails to all employees of selected IT companies. A comprehensive Web-based questionnaire regarding headache characteristics, disability, quality of life, and economic loss was completed by 522 participants from 8 companies.

Results: The participants included 450 (86.2%) who had experienced headache more than once during the previous year. The frequencies of migraine, probable migraine (PM), and tension-type headache (TTH) were 18.2%, 21.1%, and 37.0%, respectively. The Migraine Disability Assessment score was higher for participants with migraine [median and interquartile range, 3.0 (0.0-6.0)] than for those with PM [0.0 (0.0-2.0), p<0.001] and TTH [0.0 (0.0-1.0), p<0.001]. The estimated annual economic losses caused by migraine per person associated with absenteeism and presenteeism were USD 197.5±686.1 and USD 837.7±22.04 (mean±standard deviation), respectively. The total annual economic loss per person caused by migraine (USD 1,023.3±1,972.7) was higher than those caused by PM (USD 424.8±1,209.1, p<0.001) and TTH (USD 197.6±636.4, p<0.001).

Conclusions: Migraine, PM, and TTH were found to be prevalent among IT workers in Korea. Disability and economic loss were significantly greater in participants with migraine than in those with PM or TTH.

Keywords: cost of illness; disability; migraine; quality of life; tension-type headache; work performance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Byung-Kun Kim and Min Kyung Chu, contributing editors of the Journal of Clinical Neurology, were not involved in the editorial evaluation or decision to publish this article. All remaining authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Flow of participation and HA types. HA: headache.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Distribution of Migraine Disability Assessment scores of participants with headache, migraine, PM, and TTH. PM: probable migraine, TTH: tension-type headache.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Stovner LJ, Hagen K, Jensen R, Katsarava Z, Lipton RB, Scher A, et al. The global burden of headache: a documentation of headache prevalence and disability worldwide. Cephalalgia. 2007;27:193–210. - PubMed
    1. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) Headache disorders-Level 3 cause. 2020. [updated 2020]. [accessed January 14, 2021]. http://www.healthdata.org/results/gbd_summaries/2019/headache-disorders-....
    1. Steiner TJ, Stovner LJ, Vos T, Jensen R, Katsarava Z. Migraine is first cause of disability in under 50s: will health politicians now take notice? J Headache Pain. 2018;19:17. - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization. Headache Disorders [Internet] Geneva: World Health Organization; [updated 2016 Apr 8]. [cited 2021 Jan 12]. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/headache-disorders.
    1. GBD 2016 Headache Collaborators. Global, regional, and national burden of migraine and tension-type headache, 1990-2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet Neurol. 2018;17:954–976. - PMC - PubMed