Migraine Burden and Prevalence
What it is
Migraine affects an estimated 39-40 million people in the United States and approximately 1 billion worldwide. It is the second leading cause of disability worldwide by years lived with disability (YLDs) per the Global Burden of Disease study, and the leading cause of disability in women under 50. Despite its prevalence, migraine remains systematically undertreated and underrecognized in primary care.
How it works
U.S. prevalence estimates are from Burch et al. (2021) using National Health Interview Survey data: 15.9% in women, 6.7% in men. The Global Burden of Disease 2019 study places migraine second among all causes of disability globally by YLDs, with a disability weight of 0.441 for severe ictal periods. The gap between burden and treatment access is the central policy problem the Vault research program is designed to quantify.
What patients need to know
Migraine is one of the most common conditions in the world — about 40 million people in the United States live with it. Despite how common it is, many people go years without the right diagnosis or treatment.
Prior authorization
Population-level burden framing supports the case for policy reform — step therapy reform, Gold Card legislation, and payer policy transparency. For individual PA submissions, the scale of migraine burden establishes the medical and societal importance of treatment access. Payer policy restrictions affect millions of patients simultaneously, not individual cases.
Treating patients with migraine?
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