Abstract

Cholinergic urticaria (CholU) is a frequent type of chronic inducible urticaria. Symptomatic treatment with second-generation antihistamines (sgAH) is recommended by current guidelines as first-line therapy, but little is known about how patients with CholU are treated in real life and how they respond to treatment. To assess real-life treatment of CholU in German-speaking countries. Patients with CholU (n=111) took part in an online survey study that assessed their treatments and their treatment responses. Virtually all patients (97%) had used antihistamines, 87% of them sgAH; 23% had also taken first-generation antihistamines (fgAH). The proportion of patients who benefited from standard-dosed antihistamine treatment was low (sgAH: 32% vs. fgAH: 16%), and side effects of sgAH and fgAH were comparable. Updosing of antihistamines had been tried by 66 patients (59%) (most commonly [98%, n=65] with sgAH) and resulted in marginally better responses (sgAH: 38% vs. fgAH: 32%). Only very few patients had used other treatments, mostly corticosteroids (30%) and omalizumab (5%). SgAH were commonly used, but insufficient in about two thirds of CholU patients. Accordingly, improved use of third-line and fourth-line treatment options and development of better therapies for patients with CholU are needed.

Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call