The expanding burden of idiopathic intracranial hypertension

Abstract

Objective: To quantify the hospital burden and health economic impact of idiopathic intracranial hypertension.

Methods: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) national data was extracted between 1st January 2002 and 31st December 2016. All those within England with a diagnosis of idiopathic intracranial hypertension were included. Those with secondary causes of raised intracranial pressure such as tumours, hydrocephalus and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis were excluded.

Results: A total of 23,182 new IIH cases were diagnosed. Fifty-two percent resided in the most socially deprived areas (quintiles 1 and 2). Incidence rose between 2002 and 2016 from 2.3 to 4.7 per 100,000 in the general population. Peak incidence occurred in females aged 25 (15.2 per 100,000). 91.6% were treated medically, 7.6% had a cerebrospinal fluid diversion procedure, 0.7% underwent bariatric surgery and 0.1% had optic nerve sheath fenestration. Elective caesarean sections rates were significantly higher in IIH (16%) compared to the general population (9%), p < 0.005. Admission rates rose by 442% between 2002 and 2014, with 38% having repeated admissions in the year following diagnosis. Duration of hospital admission was 2.7 days (8.8 days for those having CSF diversion procedures). Costs rose from £9.2 to £50 million per annum over the study period with costs forecasts of £462 million per annum by 2030.

Conclusions: IIH incidence is rising (by greater than 100% over the study), highest in areas of social deprivation and mirroring obesity trends. Re-admissions rates are high and growing yearly. The escalating population and financial burden of IIH has wide reaching implications for the health care system.

Fig. 1

Consort diagram

Fig. 2

Composite figure. a Incidence in the general population. b Incidence by age and gender. c Annual incidence in females and males and Obesity rates (% obesity per annum (body mass index ≥ 30), age-standardized in 18 years + by gender in the United Kingdom. From World Health organisation http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.A900A?lang=en Accessed 6 Oct 2017. d Management of IIH in the cohort. e Geographical distribution of diagnosed cases of IIH in England. f Distribution of cases by region per annum

Fig. 3

a IIH cases according to gender and socioeconomic status (solid line). % obesity rates (body mass index ≥ 30), age-standardised (aged > 16) by equivalised household income and sex (dotted line), data from Health Survey for England 2016. b Annual hospital episodes for IIH. c Hospital costs per annum for IIH. d Future predicted costs in millions (£) of IIH in England based on current trends