Autism Spectrum Disorder in Pediatric Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension

Life (Basel). 2021 Sep 15;11(9):972. doi: 10.3390/life11090972.

Abstract

In recent years, the substantial burden of medical comorbidities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) populations has been described. We report a retrospective observational case series of pediatric patients with suspected idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) and concurrent ASD. Pediatric subjects with suspected IIH aged 2-18 years were identified by review of a pediatric neuro-ophthalmologist's database spanning from July 1993 to April 2013. ASD diagnoses were identified within this cohort by an ICD-9 diagnosis code search and database review. Three subjects had concurrent ASD diagnoses; all were non-obese males. Since the retrospective observational case series was performed in April 2013, we identified three additional IIH cases in boys with ASD. Our experience suggests that IIH may be a comorbidity of ASD, particularly in non-obese boys.

Keywords: IIH; autism; idiopathic intracranial hypertension; pseudotumor cerebri syndrome.