A population-based survey of Americans with frequent migraine and acute medication use: A plain language summary

The Harris Poll Migraine Report Card was a survey about people's experiences and challenges with headaches and migraine. The survey was conducted from December 9, 2021, to January 10, 2022, in the United States. The people who took the survey had frequent headaches/migraine attacks (on 8 or more days per month) and used acute headache/migraine medication to relieve head pain and other symptoms (on 10 or more days per month). This summary focuses on the responses of adults with frequent headaches and frequent acute medication use at the time of the survey or within the few months (not specified) before the survey (and not those who previously had frequent headaches and frequent acute medication use at some point in their life prior to the survey). The group of people who took the survey will be called 'respondents'. The term 'headaches' can mean any type of headache including as part of a migraine attack, a tension type headache, or another unknown headache type. All respondents screened positive for having migraine, so many of the headaches they reported on may have been a migraine headache or part of a migraine attack.

Over 50% of respondents said their headaches affected their overall quality of life. Many respondents wished their healthcare provider who was managing their headaches understood more about how headaches affect their mental well-being, how much pain their headaches cause, and why they get headaches. 80% of respondents had concerns about their overall health. Over 60% of respondents said they have experienced anxiety and/or depression. In this survey, although all respondents were eligible to receive a preventive headache/migraine medication because of their headache frequency, only 15% were taking one.

The findings from this survey showed many ways that headaches/migraine care can improve, including talking about mental and emotional well-being, making sure the treatment plan works and does not have side effects that cannot be tolerated, and trying to prevent headaches/migraine from occurring.