New report estimates £870 million annual burden of migraine in Greater Manchester
Migraine Awareness Week: Collaborative Working Report says migraine is disrupting lives and damaging productivity, with an estimated 280,000 people experiencing migraine in the city-region.
Migraine creates an estimated £870 million annual burden across the city-region, according to a major new report, Taking Action: Transforming Migraine Care in Greater Manchester, developed through a collaborative working project between Health Innovation Manchester and AbbVie UK [1]. The report also estimates that only around one-third of the people believed to be living with the condition are captured within the recorded diagnosed or actively treated population.
The report highlights that these figures may understate the true scale of the impact of migraine due to gaps in diagnosis, coding and routine recording in healthcare data.
Bringing together linked real-world healthcare data, health economic modelling, pathway analysis and insights from people living with migraine and healthcare professionals, the report provides a comprehensive assessment of migraine within an NHS system, and identifies learnings that may be relevant to health systems across the UK. It also illustrates how NHS organisations, patients, clinicians and industry can work together transparently to develop evidence, understand unmet need and identify opportunities for pathway improvement.
The findings show opportunities to make migraine care more consistent and joined up across the system. Patients can experience variation in diagnosis, treatment and access to specialist support, highlighting the potential benefits of clearer pathways and greater coordination of care. Primary care remains central to migraine management, with opportunities to enhance the tools and pathways that could support more consistent care.
The report found that 55% of newly diagnosed patients identified through the real-world data evaluation between 2019 and 2024 received preventative treatment, while approximately 1% reached a fourth line treatment during the evaluation period. While not all patients would have had sufficient time to progress through treatment pathways, the findings from the real-world evidence review and pathway analysis suggest variation and potential delays in treatment review, optimisation and escalation.
More than just a headache
The report says migraine must no longer be dismissed as “just a headache”. It can affect people’s ability to work, care for their families, maintain relationships, and participate fully in society. It has a significant impact on overall quality of life.
Anna* from Salford took part in discussions, interviews and workshops as part of the project and gave permission for her experiences to be shared. She said: “Migraine doesn’t ask you; it can start in the morning, night-time, it can start anytime. I sometimes wake up with a migraine. It is bad, you can’t concentrate, it affects the whole body, how you behave, how you speak – you as a person”.
Anna’s experience reflects wider themes identified through the lived experience workstream including the hidden burden of migraine and the difficult choices faced between managing health, supporting family and maintaining employment.
*Name changed to protect identity.
Call for action
Taken together, these findings highlight the importance of translating existing evidence and clinical guidance into a more consistent, accessible and patient centered migraine pathway. The greatest opportunity lies in redesigning services around a more proactive, integrated and person-centred model of care that supports earlier diagnosis, reduces variation and improves outcomes.
The report recommends four key actions for Greater Manchester that are potentially relevant for health systems across the UK:
Develop, implement and continuously improve a single, standardised, NICE-aligned migraine pathway that provides a consistent, evidence-based model of care across Greater Manchester.
Equip primary and community care to confidently deliver consistent and proactive migraine management, including medicines optimisation and integrated care across services.
Use population health intelligence to identify unmet need, reduce inequalities and target interventions where they will have the greatest impact.
Develop consistent treatment review, optimisation and escalation processes, translating NICE guidance into clear pathways so patients receive appropriate treatment in a timely and equitable way.
The report concludes that migraine should be recognised as a strategic long-term condition and population health and economic challenge, with greater focus on awareness, earlier diagnosis and reducing inequalities. Improving migraine care should be viewed as an investment in population wellbeing, workforce participation and economic resilience – alongside delivering potential benefits to the NHS.
Laura Rooney, Deputy Chief Executive at Health Innovation Manchester, said: “Migraine is affecting hundreds of thousands of people across Greater Manchester and creating an estimated annual burden of £870 million, but much of that impact remains hidden.
Many people are living without a diagnosis, navigating fragmented services or waiting too long for their treatment to be reviewed and optimised. The consequences are measured not only in NHS activity, but in missed work, lost opportunities, disrupted family life and overall quality of life. Yet the report also highlights clear opportunities to improve care and outcomes.
We already have clinical guidance, effective treatments and examples of good practice. The urgent task now is to join up services, support primary and community care, diagnose people earlier and ensure that patients can access the right treatment at the right time.”
Kelly Sanderson Schrems, Vice President and General Manager, AbbVie UK said: “Migraine is often misunderstood as ‘just a headache’, yet it remains one of the most common and under-recognised neurological conditions. This report shows the scale of its impact on people, families, workplaces and health services across Greater Manchester.
By bringing together local healthcare data, economic analysis, clinical expertise and lived experience, this collaboration has created a clearer picture of the burden of migraine and the opportunities to improve care. Improving migraine care is not only important for patients; it has the potential to support workforce participation, productivity and healthier communities.”
From understanding migraine, to reimagining care
The report marks the conclusion of the programme’s initial Understand phase. A potential next phase, would bring patients, clinicians, industry and health system partners together to co-design and validate a future model of care.
Although the work is grounded in Greater Manchester, the report identifies opportunities to improve awareness, diagnosis, treatment optimisation and coordination of care that are likely to be relevant to health systems across the country. Its recommendations provide a practical framework that could be adapted by other Integrated Care Systems and help inform wider national discussions on improving migraine care.
This collaborative approach between AbbVie and Health Innovation Manchester illustrates Greater Manchester’s wider ambition to use innovation and partnership working to address complex population health challenges.
About AbbVie
AbbVie’s mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines and solutions that solve serious health issues today and address the medical challenges of tomorrow. We strive to have a remarkable impact on people’s lives across several key therapeutic areas — immunology, neuroscience and oncology — and products and services in our Allergan Aesthetics portfolio. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at abbvie.co.uk. Follow AbbVie | UK on LinkedIn and YouTube (@abbvie-uk).
About Health Innovation Manchester
Health Innovation Manchester is a place-based innovation organisation formed by the health, care, civic and academic leaders of Greater Manchester (GM). Our vision is to be world leading in improving the lives of local people, transforming care and boosting the economy through innovation.
References
Migraine Pathway Transformation: Collaborative Working Project executive summary, January 2026
Date of preparation: September 2026
Job bag number: UK-NEUM-260109
