Headache disorders and their global impact: the “Global Burden of Disease Study”

Headache disorders and their global impact: the “Global Burden of Disease Study” 

How much suffering do headache disorders cause worldwide? Is there even a way to measure this? To understand the burden caused by a disease, we need to look at two things. First, how many people are affected. Second, how much the disease impacts their daily lives. Both of these things are difficult to determine. It’s almost impossible to count every person worldwide who has a certain condition, and measuring suffering is even more complex. People experience pain and limitations in very different ways, so it is hard to capture both the individual and the global impact.

For several decades, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has published large global health reports on a regular basis. One such report is the “Global Burden of Disease Study”, which tries to estimate, as accurately as possible, how common different diseases are around the world. It also looks at how strongly these diseases affect people’s health and quality of life. Alongside conditions such as heart disease and cancer – both of which are considered to be widespread diseases – headache disorders also feature among the most common conditions with the greatest impact.

Striking facts and figures

Collecting and analysing global data on headaches to give a reliable and accurate picture is a huge challenge. Dozens of scientists from every continent work hard to make it possible.

The findings show that almost three billion people worldwide (more precisely: 2.9 billion) suffer from headache disorders. That’s more than one in three people. The most recent Global Burden of Disease Study looks at a long time period, from 1990 to 2023. Its aim is to measure the real toll on people’s health caused by the three most common types of headache: migraine, tension-type headache, and medication-overuse headache.

Can you measure suffering?

Living with headache disorders severely affects a person’s everyday life. The WHO identifies migraine as one of the most disabling conditions worldwide. But how is it even possible to measure the burden of a disease?

Scientists have spent time developing special terms and concepts to measure a disease’s impact. One important measure to indicate the direct effect of a condition on a person’s quality of life is called “years lived with disability” (YLDs). YLDs describe the total amount of time that people spend living with health problems that limit their daily activities. In other words, they help to show how much “healthy life time” is lost owing to pain and suffering. To make comparisons easier, YLDs are always calculated in relation to population size. The standard reference is 100,000 people, roughly the population of a medium-sized city.

Women are more affected

The latest WHO data from 2023 gives a good insight into headache disorders and the associated burden. The figures show that headache disorders cause more than 540 years lived with disability (YLDs) per 100,000 people. This places headaches sixth among all causes of disability worldwide.

The long-established sex differences in headache disorders are also very evident here. With about 740 YLDs estimated for women and about 364 YLDs for men, women are affected for more than twice as ‘long’ as men. This difference persists across age groups. Throughout their lives, women lose significantly more healthy life time to headaches than men who are the same age.

Migraine is the most disabling

Tension-type headache (or just “tension headache”) is the most common form of headache. It occurs almost twice as often as migraine. However, about 90% of all disability caused by headaches is due to migraine. In 2023 alone, migraine caused around 41 million YLDs worldwide. This equates to more than 480 years per 100,000 people.

To compare: tension-type headache caused about 54 YLDs per 100,000 people – much less time spent suffering. The research team’s conclusion is clear: although migraine affects far fewer people than tension-type headache, it is much more disabling and accounts for the largest share of the overall burden caused by headache disorders.

Medication overuse is a big part of the problem

The third type of headache investigated in the study is medication-overuse headache. It develops when headache medication is used incorrectly while treating an existing (i.e., “primary”) headache disorder, tension-type headache and migraine being the most widespread (read more about it in this article).

A study published in The Lancet estimates that 1–2% of the global population is affected by medication-overuse headache. This equates to 50 to 100 million adults worldwide. Again, women are affected more than men – about two to three times more often, in fact.

Medication-overuse headache contributes significantly to disability. In migraine, it accounts for about 22% of YLDs in women and about 14% in men. In tension-type headache, medication-overuse headache rates are even higher: about 59% in women and about 56% in men.

Much of the suffering could be prevented

The researchers behind the Global Burden of Disease Study conclude that a large part of headache-associated suffering could be avoided. Summing up the results, one of the lead authors, Andreas Kattem Husøy (based in Trondheim, Norway), emphasises the importance of better prevention, better treatment, and improved access to healthcare for headache sufferers everywhere. With greater awareness and coordinated action, much of the global burden of headache disorders could be reduced, the research team says.

Good medical support and personalised prevention strategies are essential

What’s the best way to act on this information on a practical level? First, it is important to seek help as early as possible in your “headache journey” and to consult experienced headache specialists. Second, individual headache prevention is crucial. You need to understand which type of headache you have and what you can do in your daily life to prevent attacks.

If headache attacks become less frequent through effective prevention, the need for pain medication will decrease too. A useful guideline for safe medication use is the 10–20 rule: take acute headache medication on no more than 10 days per month. Keep at least 20 days medication-free. The dosage does not matter. What matters is the number of days on which medication is taken.

Following the 10–20 rule helps prevent medication-overuse headache. It is also important to track your medication use carefully so that you can stay in control. One helpful tool is the Headache Hurts app. Its medication tracker shows automatically when medication use is approaching a critical level. The app also makes it easy to include headache prevention in your daily life. It helps users to identify personal triggers for their headaches – and supports them in adjusting their daily habits to reduce their headache burden.

If we can get both of the big things right – accessible, high-quality care and effective, personalised prevention – we can make a real and lasting difference to the global burden of headache disorders.

Published: April 2026