Healthcare Service Use, Costs, and Treatment Patterns within a Cohort of Experienced and New Users of Preventive Migraine Medications
Abstract Background: Migraine is a debilitating disease associated with increased use of healthcare services. Pharmacological interventions include acute medications to reduce symptoms and restore patient functioning, and preventive migraine medications (PMM), to reduce frequency, duration, and intensity of migraine symptoms . This study examined treatment and associated healthcare service use and costs between PMM naïve and experienced patients.Methods: Migraine patients initiating treatment with a PMM from January 1, 2010-June 30,2014 were identified in the IBM MarketScan Commercial and Medicare Supplemental Databases. Migraine medication use, service utilization, and costs were examined over the 12 months following PMM initiation; outcomes were compared between patients experienced with and naïve to PMM treatment.Results: Adherence and persistence with PMMs was low, with only 24% of patients adherent to their index PMM. Rates of discontinuation were high, with 71.4% of the sample discontinuing their PMM over the 12-month follow up. Utilization of acute medications was common, as was PMM switching in experienced patients. Annual healthcare costs were $12,044 and $19,093 for the PMM naïve and experienced populations respectively. Migraine-specific service use accounted for approximately 20% of all-cause healthcare costs. The PMM experienced cohort consistently evidenced higher service use and costs than the PMM naïve cohort.Conclusion: Utilization of PMM remains suboptimal and is accompanied by both lack of PMM adherence and high use of acute medications. Rates of PMM switching and use of acute medications suggest that patients have unmet needs regarding migraine management. Improved treatment regimens that effectively manage migraine symptoms are needed to improve patient level of functioning while reducing healthcare costs associated with migraine management.