title: Idiopathic intracranial hypertension is associated with lower body adiposity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To characterize the obesity phenotype(s) in patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH).
  
  
  METHODS
  Database study.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 44 consecutive patients with IIH, in addition to 184 women attending the obesity clinic of the same medical center and 199 obese women participating in the first Israeli national survey on health and nutrition conducted in 1999 and 2000.
  
  
  METHODS
  Anthropometric parameters were compared with those of 2 control groups of the same age range.
  
  
  METHODS
  Weight, height, and waist and hip circumference were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Forty subjects, comprising 91.0% of this cohort, were either overweight (body mass index, 25.0-29.9 kg/m(2)) or obese (body mass index > or = 30 kg/m2). Mean waist circumference was 95.3 cm for IIH, 99.8 cm for the national survey, and 114.5 cm for the obesity clinic cohort (P<0.001), whereas hip circumference was 121 cm for IIH, 118.4 cm for the national survey, and 125.8 cm (P = not significant) for the obesity clinic cohorts. Waist-to-hip ratio, a descriptive measure of body fat distribution approximately reflecting upper to lower body fat ratio, was 0.79 in the patients with IIH, 0.84 in the national survey group, and 0.91 in the obesity clinic cohort (P<0.001; all comparisons were adjusted for age and body mass index).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In IIH, fat tends to preferentially accumulate in the lower body relative to other obese women of the same range. Whereas most complications of obesity, such as hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and the metabolic syndrome, are linked to upper body adiposity, IIH may represent a unique condition potentially induced by nonvisceral fat-related mechanisms.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  The authors have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.
authors.affiliation: Neuro-ophthalmology unit, Department of Ophthalmology, Tel Aviv-Sourasky Medical Center and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. kesler@netvision.net.il
authors.forename: Anat
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kesler
authors.forename: Efrat
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kliper
authors.forename: Galina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shenkerman
authors.forename: Naftali
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Stern
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue; D050154:Adiposity; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D049628:Body Size; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006615:Hip; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications*; D010641:Phenotype; D011559:Pseudotumor Cerebri / Q000209:etiology*; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio; D055815:Young Adult