Papers of the Week

This study evaluates the impact of concomitant medical conditions on patients with and without migraine, assessing healthcare utilization, and total cost of care. Medical and pharmacy claims from multiple health plans, both nationally and internationally, were examined to evaluate overall real-world trends in commercially insured patients diagnosed with migraine. A total of 53,608 patients with diagnosis codes for migraine met the study criteria and were matched 1:1 with controls (81.8% female; mean age, 42 years; mean Charlson Comorbidity Index score, 0.34). During the 3-year measurement period, mean medical costs per patient in the migraine cohort were about 1.7 times that of the control group ($22,429 vs $13,166). Unique encounters and cost per patient by medical service type for the migraine cohort compared with the control group were as follows: emergency department, 4.13 ($4000) versus 2.94 ($2639); hospital inpatient, 3.15 ($17,748) versus 2.67 ($16,010); hospital outpatient, 5.14 ($365) versus 4.85 ($396); physician office, 36.78 ($6803) versus 21.39 ($4069); laboratory, 10.12 ($1433) versus 7.71 ($1057); radiology, 7.64 ($2609) versus 5.94 ($1733). Mean pharmacy costs per patient were approximately 1.8 times higher in the migraine cohort compared with the control cohort ($8441 vs $4588, respectively; P <.0001). These results suggest that patients with migraine have more comorbidities compared with those without migraine. These patients also utilize healthcare resources at a significantly higher rate compared with similar patients without a migraine diagnosis. An unmet need exists for new treatment modalities in this patient population. More effective interventions and proper management may lead to improved patient outcomes and healthcare costs for patients with migraine.