Challenge

• The prevalence and burden of headache disorders in real-world settings is relatively unstudied, leading to underdiagnosis and condition management challenges.
• The goal was to explore the associations between passively collected activity data, headache burden, and quality of life to:
  • Elucidate new insights into headache self-management practices and treatment decisions
  • Inform approaches for pain management
  • Identify individuals who might be eligible for clinical trials

Approach

• Evidation enrolled 509 eligible US-based participants, all of whom were headache sufferers ≥ 18 years and self-reported experiencing 5-14 days with headache per month on average
• The team collected data from wearable activity tracking devices and daily short surveys over 12 weeks, allowing study participants to contribute in an unobtrusive and less burdensome manner
  • Compliance was high; on average, participants responded to 64 of 84 possible daily surveys and reported 9,646 headache days in total
  • 408 individuals met criteria for “dense” activity, defined as having no periods where they did not wear their Fitbit for 7 consecutive days or more
  • Participants contributed over 25,000 days of step and sleep data, demonstrating regular wear-time during the study
• Variables were analyzed using a series of mixed-effects models and stratified based on headache type
• Evidation used multiple linear and logistic regressions to analyze treatment preferences

Results

• Evidation found that days with headaches were typically associated with increased sleep, reduced physical activity, and lower maximum heart rate
• Migraineurs experienced greater burden in everyday life compared with tension-type headache sufferers
• The findings in this study provide preliminary evidence that activity trackers, such as
• those found in wearable devices, are useful tools when quantifying headache burden among individuals with frequent headaches in real-world settings

To learn how Evidation engages individuals in order to characterize and quantify disease progression, treatment experience, and quality of life, connect with a member of our commercial team.