Cognitive assessment of idiopathic intracranial hypertension patients

Abstract

Abstract Background Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is a disorder of unknown etiology. Goals of treatment are to preserve vision and alleviate symptoms, including intractable headache, pulsatile tinnitus, and nausea. Cognition is not addressed routinely during clinical evaluation of IIH patients. Objective The current study was designed to test whether there is cognitive impairment in IIH patients or not and to evaluate the nature and characteristics of cognitive functions in these patients. Methods A case-control study conducted on 40 subjects; 20 with IIH and 20 healthy controls. Patients underwent full clinical and neurological examination as well as cognitive testing using eight psychometric tests. Results Patients with IIH performed significantly worse than controls in multiple cognitive domains (p value ≤ 0.05). Deficits were most pronounced in working memory, executive functions, visuospatial functions, attention, and processing speed. Conclusions Patients with IIH have significant cognitive impairment, particularly in executive functions and memory. All domain measures showed a statistically significant difference from normal individuals, indicating that there is a form of multidomain cognitive impairment in IIH. The relationship between cognitive impairment and chronically elevated intracranial pressure and its role in contributing to patient morbidity should be considered.

Keywords

• Cognition
• Impairment
• Morbidity
• Idiopathic intracranial hypertension