Primary spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea and obesity

The objective of this paper is to determine whether there is a relationship among obesity, gender, and the risk of development of primary spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) rhinorrhea. A retrospective case review of all th e patients with CSF rhinorrhea treated at our unit. over a 10-year period i s presented. From a ser-ies of 20 patients, we studied 9 cases of primary s pontaneous CSF rhinorrhea; 6 patients were female (mean age 50 +/- 10 years ) and 3 male (mean age 61 +/- 7 years). All the female patients were clinic ally obese, i.e., they had a body mass index > 30 kg/m(2). All the male pat ients had a body mass index within normal parameters. We review the postula ted etiologic factors of this uncommon condition and study the pathophysiol ogic basis for obese patients to have CSF rhinorrhea. This study suggests a relationship between obese females and the risk of developing a primary sp ontaneous CSF rhinorrhea.