Status Migrainosus
One of the Most Poorly Understood but Important Complications of Migraine

Migraine is the second most common and disabling disease worldwide,¹ and some of the associated disability can be attributed to complications of the disease. Status migrainosus, whereby an attack exceeds 72 hours in duration,² is a complication of migraine that has historically been very understudied. It is unclear how common it is, given limited data, but the few existing prevalence studies have estimated that anywhere from 3% to 20% of people with migraine may experience status migrainosus.^3-5 What little evidence is available suggests that it is a considerable public health problem; it is associated with significant disability,⁵ and people with status migrainosus have a worse migraine prognosis⁵ and a higher risk of suicide⁶ when compared with people with migraine who do not experience status migrainosus. People with status migrainosus are also frequently hospitalized for management,^4,5 and admissions are incredibly costly, with estimates varying between ∼USD $3,800 and 7,000 per admission.^7,8 Unfortunately, existing inpatient therapies have very low levels of evidence to support their use and may have low efficacy rates.⁹