Headache prevalence and clinical features in patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH)

Headache is a key symptom of idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH). Operational diagnostic criteria for "Headache attributed to IIH" are included in the international classification of headache disorders, the ICHD-2. The association of IIH with obesity was established by several reports. We investigate the prevalence of headache and its main clinical features in a clinical sample of IIH patients. The possible correlations between the presence of headache and body mass index (BMI) and intracranial pressure (ICP) levels were studied in a consecutive clinical series of patients, in whom diagnosis of IIH was confirmed by exclusion of secondary forms and by the evidence of increased ICP. Differences for age, BMI, and ICP between patients with and without headache and between males and females were assessed with Mann- Whitney U test. Spearman's correlation analysis was used to assess relationships between age, BMI, and ICP. P value