Self-reported headache among the employees of a Swiss university hospital: prevalence, disability, current treatment, and economic impact
Open accessAbstract
Background: The objectives of this cross-sectional, observational study were to determine the prevalence of self-reported headache among the employees of the large Swiss university hospital, to measure the impact of headache using the MIDAS questionnaire, to assess current treatment and to estimate economic burden of headache considering indirect costs. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was distributed internally to 2000 randomly selected employees of the University Hospital Zurich. Results: 1210 employees (60.5%) responded. Of the 1192 (98.5%) employees who provided sufficiently complete information, 723 (61%) reported at least one headache type in the last three months. The prevalence of migraine, and tension-type headache was 20% and 50%, respectively. Regarding the occupational groups, there was a trend that healthcare staff, administration employees, and medical technicians suffered more from headaches than physicians, correcting for age and sex. The economic consequences of lost productivity were calculated to amount to approximately 14 million Swiss Francs (9.5 million EUR), representing 3.2% of the overall annual expenditure of the hospital for personnel. Conclusion: Headache is highly prevalent among university hospital employees, with significant economic impact.
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The economic costs of headaches are substantial, primarily manifesting as indirect and intangible costs.
“The economic costs of headaches are substantial, primarily manifesting as indirect and intangible costs. This includes work absences because of headaches (absenteeism), reduced on-the-job performance while experiencing headaches (presenteeism), reduced quality of life, and increased pain outside the workplace [5-7].”
From Development and Evaluation of a Smartphone-Based Chatbot Coach to Facilitate a Balanced Lifestyle in Individuals With Headaches (BalanceUP App): Randomized Controlled Trial (2024) · cites this paper as [7]
The Discussion describes a substantial economic burden dominated by indirect costs from absence and reduced effectiveness at work; the Results quantify both. The Background also describes reduced quality of life, but the paper does not classify it or pain as intangible costs, nor does it report increased pain outside the workplace. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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- Authors
- Sokolovic, E., Riederer, F., Szucs, T., Agosti, R., & Sándor, P. S.
- Affiliations
- University Hospital Zurich (CH)
- University of Zurich (CH)
- Klinik Hirslanden (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Riederer, Franz
- Venue
- The Journal of Headache and Pain
- Published
- 2013-03-26
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 29-29
- ISSN
- 1129-2369 (ISSN-L)
- 1129-2377
- PMC
- PMC3639129
- OpenAlex
- W2167916207
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 1.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Journal of Headache and Pain (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Migraine and Headache Studies
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Complementary and Manual Therapy › Temporomandibular Joint Disorders
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation
- Keywords
- headache prevalence, university hospital staff, migraine, tension-type headache, MIDAS questionnaire, disability, headache treatment, economic burden, productivity loss, indirect costs, healthcare workers
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Cross-Sectional Studies, Disability Evaluation, Efficiency, Female, Headache, Health Personnel, Hospitals, University, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Switzerland, Prevalence, Young Adult, Self Report
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