Migraine Survey To Improve Data In New Zealand

Migraine Foundation Aotearoa New Zealand is undertaking an online survey of people with migraine in New Zealand, to find out more about their experiences with health care, medication use, stigma and the impact of migraine on their lives.

An estimated 642,000 people have migraine in Aotearoa New Zealand and it causes a similar level of disability to major depressive disorder. Migraine attacks that occur more frequently cause the highest amount of disability, and can affect a person’s ability to remain in employment as well as negatively impacting family and social relationships.

Despite this, there are no statistics from New Zealand on the prevalence of high frequency or chronic migraine (headache for 15 or more days a month). There are also no statistics on the proportion of people with migraine who are on appropriate treatment. Research from overseas suggests that the use of migraine-specific treatment for acute attacks and medication to prevent attacks is much less than expected, indicating a significant unmet need for treatment.

“This survey is an initiative to support and encourage more migraine research in New Zealand, which is one of our key objectives,” says Dr Fiona Imlach, co-founder of Migraine Foundation Aotearoa New Zealand.

“We need this information to advocate for better support and treatments for people with migraine,” Fiona says.

“Without it, we can only guess at how many people stand to benefit from new migraine treatments in New Zealand that are not currently funded or available. We can also only guess at the burden and cost of migraine disease in New Zealand, how it impacts on productivity, quality of life and whānau.”

The Foundation is seeking participants who currently live in New Zealand who have been diagnosed with migraine or have symptoms that are consistent with migraine disease. These include:

• pain on one side of the head
• pain that lasts 4 hours to 3 days if not treated
• throbbing or pulsing pain, usually moderate to severe and often worse with routine activity such as walking or climbing stairs
• sensitivity to light, sound and/or smell
• nausea and vomiting.

Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XNSTFM5

More information, the survey link and a QR code to take you straight to the survey can be found at migrainefoundation.org.nz. The survey is open for response until mid September.

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