Stigmatizing attitudes toward people with migraine by people without active migraine: results of the OVERCOME (US) study.

Background: Migraine is associated with various types of stigma. This study aims to evaluate stigmatizing attitudes towards people with migraine by people without active migraine.

Methods: OVERCOME (US) was a web survey among adults from a representative US population-based sample that collected information about stigmatizing attitudes of people without active migraine (i.e., no migraine/severe headaches in the previous 12 months) toward people with migraine and related conditions. The following associations were examined in the current analysis: (1) association between stigma toward migraine and relationship to people with migraine, (2) association between stigma toward migraine and sex, and (3) association between stigma toward migraine and historical headache/migraine status. We further compared stigmatizing attitudes toward people with migraine compared to people with chronic low back pain and epilepsy.

Results: In this observational, population-based study, a total of 11,997 respondents without active migraine were queried about attitudes and beliefs about people with migraine. With a mean age of 47.4 (standard deviation 17.3) years, the majority of the respondents were female (51.1%), White (75.6%), and non-Hispanic (82.3%). Nearly 70% of people queried endorsed ≥ 1 stigmatizing attitude from eleven possibilities. Stigmatizing attitudes and beliefs were more prevalent among those with a closer relationship to someone with migraine (family or friend) or those who knew multiple people with migraine, in particular among those who felt personally impacted by knowing a family member or co-worker/supervisor/employee with migraine or severe headache. Respondents with prior migraine endorsed more stigmatizing attitudes than those without migraine/headache history. Lastly, the analysis showed that stigmatizing attitudes toward people with migraine were much more prevalent than those toward people with epilepsy and similar to those toward people with chronic low back pain.

Conclusions: Stigma towards people with migraine is widespread but surprisingly more common the closer the relationship(s) to a person/persons with migraine and in those who have experienced migraine themselves. Raising awareness about the stigma towards people with migraine that exists in public may help people with migraine feel more confident to advocate for themselves and seek care, as well as creating more public and social support for accommodations, research funding, and treatment.