The burden of headache disorders in the adult population of Mongolia: estimates, and a health-care needs assessment, from a cross-sectional population-based study

Having previously shown headache disorders to be prevalent in Mongolia, here we elaborate on headache as a public-health concern in this country, reporting symptom burden and headache-attributed impaired participation at individual and societal levels, and conducting a health-care needs assessment. The study followed the standardized methodology developed by the Global Campaign against Headache, generating a representative general-population sample through multi-level randomized cluster sampling. Participants aged 18–65 years were interviewed at unannounced household visits by interviewers administering the HARDSHIP questionnaire. Symptom burden was established through questions on frequency, duration and intensity of headache, with proportion of time in ictal state calculated from frequency and duration. Individual impaired participation was established through the HALT questionnaire, enquiring into lost time from paid and household work and from leisure activities. Symptom burden and impaired participation yesterday were also assessed in those reporting headache yesterday. Population-level estimates were derived by factoring in prevalence. The total sample included 2,043 participants. Those reporting any headache in the last year (n = 1,351) spent, on average, 9.7% of all their time with headache, losing 1.3 workdays and 2.4 household days/3 months. These losses were considerably higher among those with probable medication-overuse headache (37.5%, 3.5 workdays, 6.7 household days) or other headache on ≥ 15 days/month (H15+) (21.9%, 2.4 workdays, 5.1 household days). At population-level (including those with and without headache), 6.2–7.4% of all time was spent with headache, 3.1% with H15+; 0.8 workdays and 1.4 household days/person/3 months were lost to headache, 0.3 workdays and 0.6 household days to migraine (the biggest contributor of all headache types). Our needs assessment estimated that one third (33.2%) of the adult population of Mongolia have headache (mostly migraine or H15+) likely to benefit from health care. This first population-based study on headache burden in Mongolia shows high levels of individual and societal burden, with H15 + the cause of greater burden at population level than migraine and TTH combined. Migraine, however, has the biggest impact on the nation’s productivity. From a purely economic perspective, Mongolia, with limited health resources, would probably be best served by focusing on mitigating migraine-attributed burden.