The Perceptions of Migraine Survey was conducted throughout April 2021. 

The sample was largely our own base and snowball recruitment. 1035 people participated in the survey, geographically well dispersed and equally represented across all age brackets. 82% of respondents were female, 90% live with migraine, strongly reflective of the reach of Migraine Australia. The number of people who do not have migraine was too small to do a meaningful comparison in the disparity of understand the condition, but the results provide some insight into where there is confusion or lack of awareness within the migraine community. 

TRUE OR FALSE

A series of true or false statements relating to what we know about migraine were asked. They are ordered below from the fewest correct answers to the most correct. 

The lack of awareness around the migraine colic link is not surprising as this is reasonable new research. The lack of acknowledgement that migraine can be fatal is also not unexpected - it is very rare for a direct cause migraine death, but it is possible. The systemic dismissal of migraine as an unimportant or trivial medical complaint has resulted in migraine never being recorded as an underlying condition leading to death in the same manner as asthma or diabetes, which is a systemic problem we need to work on. 

Far more concerning is that more than half of respondents, most of whom live with migraine themselves, still don't understand that it is a genetic condition and not a symptom of something else. The above results make clear where our focus for awareness activities need to be.

Further results are still being checked and will be available soon.