This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

A Preliminary Case-Control Study

Belinda Ireland, MD; James J. Corbett, MD; Robert B. Wallace, MD

Arch Neurol. 1990;47(3):315-320.

Abstract
• 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.

Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology (Dr Ireland), Medicine (Dr Wallace), Neurology (Dr Corbett), and Ophthalmology, Neuro-ophthalmology Unit, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication April 4, 1989.

Reprint requests to Department of Neurology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA 52242 (Dr Corbett).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Iron deficiency masquerading as idiopathic intracranial hypertension
Kaul et al.
BMJ Case Reports 2009;2009:bcr0620080346-bcr0620080346.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Drugs used in childhood idiopathic or benign intracranial hypertension
Matthews
EDUCATION AND PRACTICE 2008;93:19-25.
FULL TEXT  

Idiopathic intracranial hypertension and visual function
Acheson
Br Med Bull 2007;0:ldl019v1-12.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Doxycycline and intracranial hypertension
Friedman et al.
Neurology 2004;62:2297-2299.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Diagnostic criteria for idiopathic intracranial hypertension
Friedman and Jacobson
Neurology 2002;59:1492-1495.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Idiopathic intracranial hypertension: any light on the mechanism of the raised pressure?
WALKER
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 2001;71:1-5.
FULL TEXT  

Serum vitamin A concentration is elevated in idiopathic intracranial hypertension
Jacobson et al.
Neurology 1999;53:1114-1114.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (Pseudotumor Cerebri) Descriptive Epidemiology in Rochester, Minn, 1976 to 1990
Radhakrishnan et al.
Arch Neurol 1993;50:78-80.
ABSTRACT