Clinical Characteristics of Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension in Patients Over 50 Years of Age: A multicenter clinical cohort study.

Abstract Purpose To characterize the clinical features of idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) in patients > age 50 years (yrs) relative to the typical IIH population and existing data on this older cohort Design Retrospective, clinical cohort study Methods Medical record review of 65 patients > age 50 yrs at first diagnosis with IIH based on the Modified Dandy Criteria from four academic centers. Each center provided randomly selected controls from IIH patients Results Compared to the younger cohort, the older cohort showed the following characteristics: less females (51 (78.5%) vs 60 (92.3%) p=0.045), less headaches (33 (50.8%) vs 52 (80.0%) p=0.001), more frequent incidental discovery of papilledema (19 (29.2%) vs 7 (10.8%) p=0.015), and lower CSF opening pressure (median [range] 33 [21-58] vs 34 [24-67] cm H2O p=0.029). Conclusions Patients with IIH diagnosed > age 50 yrs are less often female and have lower CSF opening pressures, fewer headaches, a higher chance of incidentally identified papilledema, and similar BMI to younger IIH patients. Older IIH onset is not associated with worse visual outcome. Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.