A newly published study is the first to provide incidence rates for spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH) in a defined population. The study, published in the journal Cephalalgia by authors Wouter Schievink, Marcel Maya, Franklin Moser, Paul Simon, and Miriam Nuño, also finds that SIH, while still uncommon, is not as rare as previously thought.
How rare is SIH?
Through tracking patients in a specific, defined community over the course of 14 years, the authors determined that the incidence of SIH is 4 per 100,000 per year—about as common as trigeminal neuralgia, and about half as common as aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. This annual incidence of 4 per 100,000 per year compares with 2–8 per 100,000 per year for idiopathic intracranial hypertension and 2–10 per 100,000 per year for cluster headache.
It is also similar to findings in the only previously published study on the epidemiology of SIH, which estimated an annual incidence of 5 per 100,000 per year. [See more about that estimate, and a discussion of common misdiagnoses for SIH, here.]
Conclusions
Although limited by the relatively small size of the study population, the paper demonstrates that with an annual incidence rate of 4 per 100,000 per year, spontaneous intracranial hypotension is not rare, and provides, for the first time, incidence rates for spontaneous intracranial hypotension in a defined population.
For more information, see the abstract below, or read the full paper.
TITLE: Incidence of spontaneous intracranial hypotension in a community. Beverly Hills, California, 2006–2020
PUBLICATION DATE: September 23, 2021
AUTHORS: Schievink WI, Maya MM, Moser FG, Simon P, Nuño M.
CITATION: Cephalalgia. September 2021. doi:10.1177/03331024211048510
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Spontaneous intracranial hypotension is diagnosed with an increasing frequency, but epidemiologic data are scarce. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence rate of spontaneous intracranial hypotension in a defined population.
METHODS: Using a prospectively maintained registry, all patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension residing in Beverly Hills, California, evaluated at our Medical Center between 2006 and 2020 were identified in this population-based incidence study. Our Medical Center is a quaternary referral center for spontaneous intracranial hypotension and is located within 1.5 miles from downtown Beverly Hills.
RESULTS: A total of 19 patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension were identified. There were 12 women and seven men with a mean age of 54.5 years (range, 28 to 88 years). The average annual incidence rate for all ages was 3.7 per 100,000 population (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.0 to 5.3), 4.3 per 100,000 for women (95% CI, 1.9 to 6.7) and 2.9 per 100,000 population for men (95% CI, 0.8 to 5.1).
CONCLUSION: This study, for the first time, provides incidence rates for spontaneous intracranial hypotension in a defined population.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/03331024211048510