Health care utilization by migraine patients: A 1998 Medicaid population study

Background: In the last decade, a number of studies have documented the economic impact of migraine headaches on society. Although previous research has shown that patients with migraine headache consume a greater amount of health care resources than those without migraine, the economic impact of this condition on a Medicaid population has not been assessed. Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the health care resource utilization of patients with and without migraine headache in the Idaho Medicaid population. Methods: Idaho Medicaid claims from 1998 were reviewed to identify cases and controls. Four controls, marched for age, sex, race, and residence, were obtained for each case. Physician services, hospital services, emergency room services, and prescription use were compared between the 2 groups. Multivariate analyses were performed to determine differences between the 2 groups after controlling for potential confounders. Results: Eighty percent of the cases were female, and 94% of the patients were white. Patients with migraine headache had statistically significantly higher health care resource consumption than matched controls (P < 0.05). Total log costs for prescription use, physician services, and hospital services were significantly higher (P < 0.001) in the migraine group even after controlling for migraine-associated comorbid conditions and demographic variables. Conclusions: Total health care costs for migraine patients were 1.6 times higher than for matched controls. The results of this study suggest that migraine is a significant economic burden to the Medicaid program.