Disease burden of migraine and tension-type headache in non-high-income East and Southeast Asia from 1990 to 2019

Abstract

Background The world faces severe challenges from migraine and tension-type headache (TTH), which cause grave disability to patients and place a heavy burden on their caregivers. However, headaches in specific individual regions have rarely been investigated. Therefore, we aimed to fully analyse and describe the current status and changing trends in migraine and TTH in non-high-income East and Southeast Asia to provide more detailed real-world information for policy-making. Methods The migraine and TTH data used for analysis were all extracted from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) database. We adopted three major indicators of disease burden, including prevalence, incidence, and years lived with disability (YLD), and two major metrics, including the absolute number and the age-standardized rate, in our present study for further evaluation by age and sex. The results are presented in the form of mean values and 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). In addition, the differences between non-high-income East and Southeast Asia and other regions, as well as the potential associations between headache burden and socioeconomic background, were explored. Results In 2019, approximately 195,702,169 migraine patients and 291,924,564 TTH patients lived in non-high-income East Asia, and 113,401,792 migraine patients and 179,938,449 TTH patients lived in non-high-income Southeast Asia. In terms of specific countries and regions, the highest age-standardized YLD rate (ASYR) of migraine was in Thailand [645 (95% UI: 64 to 1,554)]. The highest ASYR of TTH was in Indonesia [54 (95% UI: 15 to 197)]. Furthermore, people between the ages of 40 and 44, especially females, were identified as the main population that suffered from migraine and TTH. Unfortunately, we did not observe a significant association between headache burden and socioeconomic background. Conclusions To date, the threats from migraine and TTH in non-high-income East and Southeast Asia are still serious and ongoing, leading to prominently negative impacts on the daily life and work of local residents. Therefore, full attention and sound guidelines are urgently needed to obtain greater advantages in fighting against the burden of headache disorders in the future.

Global, regional, and national epidemiology of migraine and tension-type headache in youths and young adults aged 15–39 years from 1990 to 2019: findings from the global burden of disease study 2019

“…This gap is particularly evident in low- and middle-income countries, where research, education, and clinical services for migraine and TTH are significantly lacking. Even in wealthier nations, a substantial number of patients suffering from migraines or TTH either do not have access to suitable treatment or fail to receive it [ 10 ].…”

Trends in treatment-seeking for fever in children under five years old in 151 countries from 1990 to 2020

“…In particular, in Oceania, mean treatment-seeking rates below 50% were estimated for Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands in 2020, which is significantly lower than the regional average and lower than in all other countries within this area. On the other hand, the countries classified as high income within the region (Japan, Brunei, South Korea, and Singapore) [ 19 , 20 ] had a higher estimated medical treatment-seeking rate than the regional average, with mean national treatment-seeking rates ranging between 83% and 85% in 2020. Other countries with similarly high treatment-seeking rates in the region were Taiwan, Cambodia, Maldives, and Indonesia.…”

Global, regional, and national time trends in incidence for migraine, from 1990 to 2019: an age-period-cohort analysis for the GBD 2019

“…These factors are closely associated with societal patterns, but it is independent of the level of social development, because the difference in age standardized incidence rate of migraine among SDI regions has not been observed in the current study, which indicates that the burden of migraine does not change significantly with socioeconomic development (Table 1 ). The potential association of the migraine burden with socioeconomic background remains unclear, and the results of available studies are inconsistent [ 13 , 22 - 24 ]. One piece of information that cannot be ignored is the differences in the diagnosis and treatment of migraine in the SDI region, which may confound this association.…”