Steroid Abuse Induced Benign Intracranial Hypertension in an Infant

Abstract

Introduction Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension is a well known phenomenon in both pediatric population and also adults. Steroid induced Intracranial Hypertension is also well documented in adults but sparsely reported in children and no such literature reported in Infants from India. We would like to present our case of steroid induced intracranial hypertension in a 6 months old male child who was on prednisone drops for past 3 months misused by parents as prescribed by some quack as relief medication for common cold. Our intention is to highlight the level of abuse of steroids over the counter practice and to show the level of detrimental side effects it causes with evidence inorder to report from Indian literature. Case Report A 6 months old male child was brought by parents with complaints of poor feeding, excessive cry and irritability. On examination child (fig 1) had bulging anterior fontanelle, BP was 120/80 mmHg, > 99th centile for the age. Child is obese and weight was 10 kg, Z> 2SD on WHO chart. Child was suspected to be having cushingoid features. On further probing mother gave a history of usage of drops for common cold as suggested by a quack continuously for past 3 months which was found to be Prednisolone drops