Disability and migraine: Recent outcomes using an Italian version of MIDAS

Migraine is associated with functional impairment. The migraine disability assessment (MIDAS) questionnaire is a scientific instrument which captures headache-related disability. The Italian version of MIDAS was developed through a multistep standardized methodology. Studies on Italian clinical samples confirmed that migraine patients are disabled in all activity domains. Migraine exhibits a peculiar disability pattern: non-work activities are more affected than work activities; among patients in paid work, most continue working with a headache attack. We also found that MIDAS disability grades correlate with health-related quality of life scores at the SF-36 survey, namely with the extent to which physical health, emotional state and pain interfere with functioning in different roles. We conclude that MIDAS (also in its Italian version) is a reliable and useful instrument for assessing the impact of migraine on patients' daily activities, and that it can used not only in clinical practice but also in clinical research.