World’s First Summit Set to Relieve Pain Experienced by Millions

CHICAGO, April 12, 2016 -- In a world first, migraine sufferers now have an opportunity to jump the waiting list and get free access to international migraine experts at the Migraine World Summit.

Over 30 doctors, professors and specialists have gathered from world leading institutions such as Harvard Medical School, the Mayo Clinic, Stanford Medical, the Cleveland Clinic and the International Headache Society to help answer some of the most difficult questions for patients in desperate need of relief.

Migraines are more common than diabetes, epilepsy and asthma combined.ⁱ There are 956,000 thousand migraine attacks everyday in the USⁱⁱ with around 37 million affected.

National Headache Foundation Founder and Executive Chair, Dr. Seymour Diamond, sees how migraine can cripple an individual over time:

“Migraines can destroy the lives of the sufferers and their families. I’m happy that I’m now living in a part of history where actual causes and realistic treatments are being discovered.”

The Migraine World Summit is a free online event for migraine sufferers from April 15-20, 2016.

Migraines were recently found to be the 6^th highest cause of disability worldwide in terms of years lost to disability.ⁱⁱⁱ A severe migraine can be as disabling as quadriplegia or active psychosis.^iv

Despite the prevalence of migraine, it remains under diagnosed and under treated with less than 50% of patients consulting a physician.^v

For those who do seek help, finding the right doctor can be difficult. Just 4 hours are committed to headaches disorders in undergraduate medical training worldwide.^vi

The US is one of the few places where there are subspecialty certifications for headache medicine, yet there is only 1 headache specialist for every 85,000 patients.^vii This shortage is consistent worldwide.

The Migraine World Summit provides unprecedented access to dozens of experts for those suffering from this debilitating disorder.

Headache specialist Deborah Friedman MD is one of the speakers at the event who is a Professor of Neurology & Neurotherapeutics and Ophthalmology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where she directs the Headache and Facial Pain Program.

“Specialists require referrals, patients may incur significant costs and there can be waiting lists.

The Migraine World Summit is a great opportunity to jump the queue and get into the room with the doctor to hear the latest best practice and approaches being used from some of the best in migraine.”

The Summit runs from April 15-20, 2016. Claim your free ticket at https://www.migraineworldsummit.com.

Interviews are available with people living with chronic migraine and experts participating in the event. To arrange an interview or for more information:

Erick Ward
National Headache Foundation
Tel: 1-312-274-2650
Email: [email protected]

ⁱ Headache Disorders – not respected, not resourced. All-Party Parliamentary Group on Primary Headache Disorders. 2010.  Migraine Trust

ⁱⁱ 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.

ⁱⁱⁱ Steiner, Timothy J., et al. "Headache disorders are third cause of disability worldwide." The journal of headache and pain 16.1 (2015): 1-3.

^iv Blumenfeld, A. M., et al. "Disability, HRQoL and resource use among chronic and episodic migraineurs: results from the International Burden of Migraine Study (IBMS)." Cephalalgia 31.3 (2011): 301-315.

^v 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.

^vi World Health Organization. Atlas of headache disorders and resources in the world 2011.

^vii 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.