The employment needs and the factors having a negative or positive impact on work of people with chronic diseases in Europe: the case of headache

Excerpt

Most of the burden of diseases in Europe is due to chronic pathologies; individuals with chronic diseases often experience work-related problems, such as absenteeism, reduced productivity, and stigmatization in the workplace [1]. Headache disorders, and particularly tension-type headache and migraine, are among the most prevalent chronic pathologies, and require constant management and continuous treatment over years, affecting each aspect of everyday life. In particular, headache disorders have a significant impact on work activities in terms of reduced productivity and loss of workdays [2]. Existing studies have mainly focused on the impact in terms of costs of headache for the employment sector, or have described generic “work difficulties” of headache sufferers, and the available information on specific employment needs of headache sufferers is poor. For this reason, it is important to deeply explore the factors that influence, both positively and negatively, headache sufferers’ daily work activities and identify their work-related needs. …