“Headache yesterday” at work. Pilot study of headache impact in an active workforce

A pilot (single company) questionnaire-based on-line survey aimed to evaluate headache related impact and estimate work-related productivity loss. Participation rate was 5.4%, respondents were mostly female (254, 78.9%) 37.6 years old on average, 63.9% had migraine. Headache point-prevalence on workdays was 14.6%. Lost productivity was 27.7%, considering 2 h of absenteeism and 37.5% of over 50% productivity-loss to headache. Sixty percent of employees intended to compensate for lost work, at the expense of family and social time. Total yearly cost of headache in this sample was 262.500 €, 94% indirect wage-loss cost, which extrapolates to 485M€ at a national level.