IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OBESITY AND INTRACRANIAL HYPERTENSION

BACKGROUND: Intracranial hypertension and obesity have been reported i n recent studies of patients with periorbital venous vasculitis. These findings indicate that obese patients should be investigated for sign s of inflammation in serum and lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressu re. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty obese females, aged 27-68 years parti cipated in the study of associated symptoms, signs of inflammation in serum, intracranial hypertension and magnetic resonance imaging of the brain (MR). Twenty randomly selected age- and sex-matched females wer e also investigated for associated symptoms and MR as controls. RESULT S: There were no statistically significant differences in associated s ymptoms and diseases except for infertility (P < 0.05) between the two groups. The values for orosomucoid, haptoglobin. IgG, IgM and tests f or rheumatic and antinuclear factors were significantly increased in t he obese group compared with normal values at the hospital. The lumbar CSF pressure was increased above 20 cm water in 79% and above 25 cm w ater in 42% in the obese patients. MR showed that the subarachnoidal s pace in the obese patients were significantly smaller than in the cont rols. CONCLUSIONS: Signs of inflammation in serum, intracranial hypert ension and decreased subarachnoidal space were statistically significa ntly more common in patients with obesity, than in controls.