Value and utility of disease-specific and generic instruments for assessing disability in patients with migraine, and their relationships with health-related quality of life

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationships between health-related quality of life (HRQoL), assessed with the Short Form-36 (SF-36), and disability in adult migraineurs using both disease-specific and generic tools, the WHO Disability Assessment Schedule II (WHO-DAS II) and with the Migraine Disability Assessment questionnaire (MIDAS). Significant differences were observed between patients with minimal/mild and moderate/severe MIDAS disability grades for Role Physical, Bodily Pain, General Health, Vitality, Social Functioning and Physical Composite Score of the SF-36; in the WHO-DAS II for household activities, participation in society and for summary score. WHO-DAS II and MIDAS provide complementary information on the intensity and the frequency of problems in performing daily activities, and could be used jointly. Our findings indicate that these issues are relevant for patients’ health status and should be taken into account in future research on migraine as important secondary outcomes of treatment interventions.