Nineteen patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria (duration 2 to 192 mo) referred to our clinic as therapeutic failures were treated sequentially with five regimens. These were administered orally in a double-blind random sequence and included hydroxyzine pamoate (25 mg q.i.d.) plus one of the following: (1) placebo, (2) terbutaline (2.5 mg q.i.d.), (3) cyproheptadine (4 mg q.i.d.), (4) chlorpheniramine (4 mig q.i.d.), (5) cimetidine (300 mg q.i.d.). Therapeutic response was assessed by patient's subjective choice, symptom diary scores, and suppression of wheal response to intradermal injections of histamine and compound 48/80. At least 35% improvement was noted in all patients with an average optimal response of 70%. The hydroxyzine-cimetidine combination was favored by 11 of 19 (58%) patients, in addition to producing the lowest symptom scores and the greatest histamine-48/80 wheal suppression. These results support the efficacy of combination H1 and H2 antihistamines in the management of some patients with difficult chronic urticaria.

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La urticaria-vasculitis es una forma de vasculitis que se presenta en forma de habones eritematosos clínicamente semejantes a la urticaria hemorrágica de tipo alérgica, pero que histológicamente muestra cambios de vasculitis leucocitoclástica. Puede acompañarse de normocomplementemia o hipocomplementemia. En ambas situaciones puede estar asociada a síntomas sistémicos (como por ejemplo, angioedema, artralgias, dolor abdominal, fiebre, enfermedad pulmonar o renal, epiescleritis y uveitis), aunque en los casos en que se acompaña de hipocomplementemia ha sido vinculada con mayor frecuencia a enfermedades del tejido conectivo. El estudio histopatológico permite diferenciar la urticaria hemorrágica alérgica de la urticaria-vasculitis. Presentamos una niña de 5 años con urticaria-vasculitis y normocomplementemia, con lesiones cutáneas típicas asociadas a artralgias y dolor abdominal.

Se presenta el caso de una niña con diagnóstico de urticaria autoinmunitaria y su evolución terapéutica con omalizumab. Caso clínico. Paciente de sexo femenino de 12 años de edad con un cuadro de urticaria crónica grave y angioedema de 14 meses de evolución, escasa respuesta a dosis máximas de 3 antihistamínicos combinados, antileucotrienos y corticoides, y gran afectación de su calidad de vida. Se realizó una prueba de suero autólogo, que fue positiva hasta la dilución 1:100, llegándose al diagnóstico de urticaria crónica autoinmunitaria. La falta de respuesta al tratamiento lleva a indicar terapia con omalizumab, con una reducción notable de los síntomas hacia la tercera dosis y ausencia de ellos tras 12 meses de tratamiento. Conclusión. El omalizumab podría ser una opción terapéutica para pacientes con urticaria autoinmunitaria que no responden a otros tratamientos.

Thyroid autoimmunity is the most common organ-specific autoimmune disorder, which is characterized by the production of thyroid autoantibodies and lymphocytic infiltration into the thyroid. The majority cases of chronic urticaria have unknown (idiopathic) causes, with about 30-40 % possibly having an autoimmune substrate. Considering that autoimmune factors may be the common features of both thyroid autoimmunity and urticaria, it is likely that both entities may coexist within the same patient. A number of studies have investigated the association between thyroid autoimmunity and urticaria. However, most of these studies are relatively small sample size, the power achieved in those studies was not sufficient to detect whether there is an association between urticaria and thyroid autoimmunity. The aim of this study is to combine primary data from all relevant studies to produce reliable estimates of the associations between thyroid autoantibodies and urticaria. Literature databases were searched including Medline, Embase, Web of Science, Chinese Wanfang, and CBM databases from January 1980 to December 2013. A total of 14,203 urticaria cases and 12,339 non-urticaria controls were included in this study. From these data, the odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was calculated. The meta-analysis results showed that the prevalence of positive thyroid autoantibodies in patients with urticaria was higher than non-urticaria controls (TgAb: OR 6.55, 95% CI 3.19-13.42, P<0.00001, I2=67%; TmAb: OR 4.51, 95% CI 2.78-7.33, P<0.00001, I2=47%; TPOAb: OR 8.71, 95% CI 6.89-11.01, P<0.00001, I2=20%, respectively). The results of this meta-analysis suggested that patients with urticaria were more likely to have thyroid autoimmunity than the control groups.

BACKGROUND:

Several small trails looking at antibiotic therapy targeted at Helicobacter pylori for the treatment of chronic urticaria have been published and have had conflicting results. We conducted a systematic review of existing studies to help answer the clinical question of whether this therapy has a role in the treatment of chronic urticaria.

METHODS:

We identified studies published in the English language with searches of MEDLINE, PREMEDLINE, American College of Physicians Journal Club, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness, and Cochrane Libraries using the key words "Helicobacter pylori" and "urticaria." Relevant studies from bibliography reviews were also included. Studies included met the following criteria: (1) patients had urticaria for at least 6 weeks; (2) other known causes of urticaria were excluded by appropriate testing; (3) the initial diagnosis of H pylori infection was made by either serology, urea breath test, or upper endoscopy; and (4) an adequate trial of an antibiotic with known activity against H pylori was completed.

RESULTS:

In all, 10 studies met our inclusion criteria. The rate of remission of urticaria when H pylori was eradicated was 30.9% (59/191) compared with 21.7% (18/83) when H pylori was not eradicated; the background remission rate among control subjects without H pylori infection was 13.5% (10/74). When data from the 10 studies were combined, eradication of H pylori was both quantitatively and statistically associated with remission of urticaria (odds ratio 2.9; 95% confidence interval 1.4-6.8; P =.005).

CONCLUSION:

We found that resolution of urticaria was more likely when antibiotic therapy was successful in eradication of H pylori infection than when patients who were infected did not achieve eradication. These results suggest that clinicians, after considering other causes of urticaria, should constitute (1) testing for H pylori; (2) treating with appropriate antibiotics if H pylori is present; and (3) confirming successful eradication of infection.

BACKGROUND:

Chronic spontaneous urticaria is characterized by recurrent itchy wheals. First-line management is with H1-antihistamines.

OBJECTIVE:

We sought to conduct a Cochrane Review of H1-antihistamines in the treatment of chronic spontaneous urticaria.

METHODS:

A systematic search of major databases for randomized controlled trials was conducted.

RESULTS:

We included 73 studies with 9759 participants; 34 studies provided outcome data for 23 comparisons. Compared with placebo, cetirizine 10 mg daily in the short and intermediate term (RR 2.72; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.51-4.91) led to complete suppression of urticaria. Levocetirizine 20 mg daily was effective for short-term use (RR 20.87; 95% CI 1.37-317.60) as was 5 mg for intermediate-term use (RR 52.88; 95% CI 3.31-843.81). Desloratadine 20 mg was effective for the short term (RR 15.97; 95% CI 1.04-245.04) as was 5 mg in the intermediate term (RR 37.00; 95% CI 2.31-593.70). There was no evidence to suggest difference in adverse event rates between treatments.

LIMITATIONS:

Some methodological limitations were observed. Few studies for each comparison reported outcome data that could be incorporated in meta-analyses.

CONCLUSIONS:

At standard doses, several antihistamines are effective and safe in complete suppression of chronic spontaneous urticaria. Research on long-term treatment using standardized outcome measures and quality of life scores is needed.

Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is characterized by the occurrence of hives, angioedema or both for a period of at least six weeks. Many patients remain symptomatic despite treatment with H1 -antihistamines, even at higher doses. This systematic review assessed the quality of the evidence for the effects of omalizumab as treatment in patients with CSU. We searched PubMed, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials up to 7 August 2014. Three review authors independently carried out study selection, risk of bias assessment and data extraction. Two review authors analysed the data. Five randomised controlled trials (RCTs) which included 1116 participants were evaluated. All of the RCTs were judged as low risk of bias. There was a statistically significant improvement in measures of disease activity and quality of life following treatment with omalizumab when compared to placebo (mean difference (MD) -11.58, 95% CI -13.39 to -9.77 and MD -13.12, 95% CI -16.30 to -9.95 respectively). Complete response and partial response was more frequent after treatment with omalizumab (risk ratio (RR) 6.44, 95% CI 3.95 to 10.49 and RR 4.08, 95% CI 2.98 to 5.60 respectively). There was no difference in the proportion of participants reporting adverse events between the omalizumab and placebo treatment groups (RR 1.05, 95% CI 0.96 to 1.16). There was high quality evidence to support the effectiveness and safety of omalizumab 300 mg per month for the treatment of CSU for up to six months. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

BACKGROUND:

Omalizumab, a recombinant anti-IgE antibody, effectively treats chronic spontaneous urticaria. Evidence is lacking in chronic inducible urticarias (CIndUs), which are frequently H1-antihistamine resistant.

OBJECTIVE:

We aimed to determine, from the current published literature, the strength of evidence for omalizumab efficacy and safety in the treatment of CIndUs.

METHODS:

We performed a PubMed® search to identify evidence on omalizumab use in the following nine CIndU subtypes: symptomatic dermographism, cold urticaria, delayed pressure urticaria, solar urticaria, heat urticaria, vibratory angioedema, cholinergic urticaria, contact urticaria and aquagenic urticaria.

RESULTS:

43 trials, case studies, case reports and analyses were identified. Our review indicates that omalizumab has substantial benefits in various CIndUs. The evidence is strongest for symptomatic dermographism, cold urticaria and solar urticaria. Little/no evidence was available on vibratory angioedema, aquagenic and contact urticaria. Our review supports the rapid onset of action, demonstrated through early symptom control in most cases, sometimes within 24 hours. Many patients gained complete/partial symptom relief and substantially improved quality of life. Adverse events were generally low with omalizumab being well tolerated by most patients including children.

CONCLUSIONS:

A strong body of evidence supports the use of omalizumab in the treatment of patients with therapy-refractory CIndU. More data from randomised controlled studies are warranted.

BACKGROUND:

Although some authors have already evaluated the predictive value of various parameters regarding the duration of chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), it remains uncertain which ones have importance in clinical practice as prognostic factors that indeed enable prediction. Similarly, some authors have investigated parameters that might be related to severe cases of CSU. However, the results of studies evaluating several parameters as markers of disease severity are fragmented. Thus, we performed a systematic review to summarize the findings of studies investigating the parameters associated with CSU duration and severity.

METHODS:

Two authors independently searched PubMed until June 2012 for observational retrospective or prospective studies addressing clinical or laboratory parameters associated with disease duration or severity in CSU patients.

RESULTS:

We found 1,136 potentially relevant published papers related to the subject, 34 of which were included in the systematic review. A total of 16, 6 and 12 articles evaluated CSU parameters on severity, duration or both, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS:

Our findings suggest that disease severity might predict CSU duration. Similarly, evidence suggests that plasma levels of prothrombin fragment 1 + 2, D-dimer and C-reactive protein may function as markers of CSU severity.