Health Care Utilization and Direct Costs Among Patients Diagnosed with Cluster Headache in U.S. Health Care Claims Data

BACKGROUND: Cluster headache (CH) is a rare trigeminal cephalalgia that is associated with extremely painful unilateral headache attacks and autonomic symptoms. Attacks may be episodic or chronic and associated with substantial suffering due to excruciating pain and limited treatment options. Frequent cluster headaches cause substantial burden for patients, resulting in reduced productivity caused by disability, as well as direct costs in some European countries. Less is known, however, about direct costs of recurring health care resource utilization (HCRU) in the United States. OBJECTIVE: To characterize HCRU and direct costs associated with CH in the United States from a third-party payer perspective. METHODS: This retrospective observational study analyzed claims data from the Truven Health Analytics MarketScan Research Databases from 2009-2014. Two cohorts were compared: CH (> 2 diagnostic CH claims) and controls (nonheadache patients). All patients were enrolled continuously for ± 12 months from date...