Fourth Annual Migraine World Summit Set For March 20-28

NEW YORK, Jan. 31, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The fourth Migraine World Summit, scheduled for March 20-28, will bring together the global community of leading physicians, researchers, nonprofits and advocates in the largest global event for migraine and headache patients.

Worldwide, there are over 1 billion people with migraine, a genetic neurological disease that's highly disabling. People with chronic migraine have only a 1-in-20 chance of being accurately diagnosed and treated with a minimally effective guideline recommended treatment.¹ The remaining 19 out of 20 are either misdiagnosed or mistreated. Headache specialists are also in short supply, there is just one headache specialist for every 85,000 patients in the US.²

This mismanagement contributes to significant economic impact and diminished quality of life for people with the disease. Migraine costs approximately $78 billion each year in the US.³ For the individual, finding qualified healthcare can be difficult, access to specific treatments is limited and public stigma is high. Amongst those with chronic migraine the rates of depression and anxiety are up to five times higher. ⁴

The Migraine World Summit provides hope to patients with free access to world-leading experts, including doctors and specialists from the comfort and privacy of their own home.

Organizers of the Summit are two people who have experienced chronic migraine themselves – Paula K. Dumas from Los Angeles, United States and Carl Cincinnato from Sydney, Australia.

"We created the Summit to offer unprecedented access to many of the world's leading migraine experts through interviews, resources and transcripts," said Mr. Cincinnato. "We aim to reduce the global burden of migraine by sharing in-depth interviews and life-changing insights people generally don't learn from their local doctor."

"Migraine is much more than a bad headache. It can cause nausea, vomiting, affect balance or even cause temporary motor weakness, blindness, or paralysis," explained Ms. Dumas.  For people who have migraine attacks several days a month, migraine can be devastating to their work, school, relationships and quality of life" said Ms. Dumas.

More than 100,000 people have participated in the Summit to discover how to better manage the disease. This year includes 32 experts from leading hospitals, universities, headache clinics and institutions from 11 countries, such as Mayo Clinic, Yale School of Medicine and Cleveland Clinic.

Among the questions the Summit will answer in 2019:

• What new treatments are now available or coming soon?
• What can I learn from successful patient case studies?
• What new non-medicinal alternatives are most effective?
• When are brain scans or extra tests useful?
• How can I break refractory chronic migraine?
• How is neck pain and migraine related?
• How important is sleep and exercise for migraine prevention?
• Which supplements or vitamins are worth considering?
• What are some common drug interactions and side effects we should know about?

Participation at the virtual Migraine World Summit is free and online from March 20-28, and available to order thereafter. Proceeds from the Summit help benefit migraine research and awareness through organizations like American Migraine Foundation, Headache Australia and National Headache Foundation. Registration is required. To register, visit https://migraineworldsummit.com

About the Migraine World Summit 
Our mission is simple: to reduce the global burden of migraine through education and fundraising. We interview dozens of leading migraine experts, doctors and specialists from around the world to help answer the most difficult questions for people with migraine in desperate need of relief. One billion people suffer from migraine globally⁵. It is more common than diabetes, epilepsy and asthma combined⁶, yet less than half of those with migraine consult a physician for it⁷. We believe that by giving unprecedented access to the world's migraine experts, people with migraine get high quality, trustworthy insights which they can discuss with their health care professional to improve their quality of life.

For Media Inquiries contact:

Alexander Petti 
KYNE 
O: +1 212 594 5500 
M: +1 646 831 0955 
[email protected]

¹ Lipton, R. Migraine World Summit Interview 2016. 
² Mauser, Emily D., and Noah L. Rosen. "So many migraines, so few subspecialists: Analysis of the geographic location of United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties (UCNS) certified headache subspecialists compared to United States headache demographics." Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain 54.8 (2014): 1347-1357. 
³ Gooch, C. L., Pracht, E. and Borenstein, A. R. (2017), The Burden of Neurological Disease in the United States: A Summary Report and Call to Action. Ann Neurol.. Accepted Author Manuscript. doi:10.1002/ana.24897.    
⁴ Buse, D. Migraine World Summit Interview 2018. 
⁵ Steiner TJ et al. Migraine: the seventh disabler. The Journal of Headache and Pain 2013, 14:1. 
⁶ Steiner TJ et al. The prevalence and disability burden of adult migraine in England and their relationships to age, gender and ethnicity. Cephalalgia. 2003;23(7):519-527. 
⁷ Pavone E et al. Patterns of triptans use: a study based on the records of a community pharmaceutical department. Cephalalgia. 2007;27(9):1000-4.

SOURCE Migraine World Summit

Related Links

https://migraineworldsummit.com