The search for causes of idiopathic intracranial hypertension. A preliminary case-control study
B. Ireland, J. J. Corbett and R. B. Wallace
Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City.
Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (pseudotumor cerebri) is a condition
that occurs predominantly in obese women. It consists of elevated spinal
fluid pressure, normal spinal fluid contents, papilledema, and headaches
with normal imaging studies. Long lists of putative causes and associations
have arisen, many consisting of individual case reports. We did a
retrospective case-control study on 40 patients and 39 age- and sex-matched
control subjects to examine the incidence of these associated conditions.
Our results are only suggestive due to the small sample size; however,
obesity and recent weight gain occurred more commonly in patients with
idiopathic intracranial hypertension than in control subjects. All forms of
menstrual abnormalities, incidence of pregnancy, antibiotic use, and oral
contraceptive use were equal in both groups. A larger multicenter study
will be needed to more completely characterize the risk factors for this
condition.
