Epidemiology of Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension

The word 'Epidemiology' is derived from the Greek word logos meaning 'study' and epi meaning 'upon' and demos meaning 'people'. To us it means the study of a disease in the population with attention to the distribution of the disease and to the factors which influence its distribution. Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) has only recently been studied from an epidemiological point of view. Recent studies in IIH have involved two of four types of Epidemiological studies including Descriptive Epidemiology which characterizes the disease in the population (Radhakrishna, 1986 and Durcan, 1989); Analytic Epidemiology which ascertains the etiology and the risk factors using case-control and cohort studies. (Case-controlled studies include: Digre, 1984, 1988; Wall, 1991; Ireland, 1990). Neither Experimental Epidemiology (clinical trials of treatment or prevention) nor Theoretical Epidemiology (mathematical models that predict or explain patterns of disease) have been performed in IIH. Modern analytic neuro-epidemiology is a rather young science. What were thought associations and causes of disease, especially IIH, are now brought under closer scrutiny by this science.