Title: The Rising Incidence of Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension<br/>Author: WanTsu Wendy Chang<br/><a href='http://umem.org/profiles/faculty/1322/'>[Click to email author]</a><hr/><ul>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) predominantly affects women of childbearing age and is strongly associated with obesity.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Patients can have high rates of healthcare utilization due to their chronic disabling headaches, multiple diagnostic tests and specialist consultations, and potential complications related to treatments.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">A recent study looked at trends in the incidence, prevalence, and healthcare outcomes of IIH in the 3.1 million Welsh population over a 14-year period.</span></span></span></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Incidence of IIH increased from 2.3/100,000 to 7.8/100,000 (p<0.001).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Prevalence of IIH increased from 12/100,000 to 76/100,000 (p<0.001).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Obesity (BMI >30 kg/m2) also increased from 29% to 40% of the population (p<0.001), with IIH incidence and prevalence strongly associated with BMI.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Outcomes included blindness (0.78%), moderate visual impairment (1.9%), CSF diversion (9%) with 44% of these patients requiring at least 1 revision surgery.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">IIH patients also had 5.28 times higher rate of unscheduled hospital visits during this time period.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
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<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><strong><u>Bottom Line</u>:</strong> The incidence and prevalence of IIH is increasing, likely related to rising rate of obesity. This has also been associated with more healthcare utilization compared to the general population.</span></span></p>
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<fieldset><legend>References</legend>
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Miah L, Strafford H, Fonferko-Shadrach B, <em>et al</em>. Incidence, prevalence, and health care outcomes in idiopathic intracranial hypertension. <em>Neurology</em>. 2021;96:e1251-1261.</li>
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