Prevalence of anemia in patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension: A retrospective cohort study

Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is a condition characterized by headaches, blurry vision, and papilledema. Previous studies have shown that treating IIH-associated anemia could reduce the complications of IIH, and this study aims to investigate that relationship further. This study is a retrospective cohort of all IIH patients at the neurology department at King Abdulaziz Medical City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from January 2016 to December 2024. The inclusion criteria were the revised Friedman diagnostic criteria for IIH, excluding patients without recent complete blood count test, imaging, lumbar puncture, or with another etiology for increased intracranial pressure. A total of 61 patients were considered eligible for inclusion in the study. A total of 29 patients (47.5%) have anemia, and 32 (52.5%) do not have anemia. Anemic patients were observed to be younger than non-anemic patients (31 ± 12.40 vs 38.6 ± 13.60, P = .028). IIH patients with anemia demonstrated a nonsignificant trend toward higher frequencies of blurred vision (44.8% vs 34.4%), diplopia (20.7% vs 9.4%), and transit visual obscurations (17.2% vs 9.4%) compared with non-anemic patients (P > .05). This study identified a high prevalence of anemia among patients with IIH. While the precise relationship between anemia and IIH remains uncertain, our study concluded that anemic IIH patients tend to be younger. Given this association, incorporating a complete blood count into the standard diagnostic evaluation for IIH may help identify contributing factors and guide more comprehensive patient management. Future research should further explore the clinical significance of this relationship.