What can I tell a patient with chronic urticaria – say over six weeks – about the likely course?
Chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) may last a few months or many years but duration tends to correlate with severity and most patients will have symptoms for ‘a few’ years. More than 20% of patients with symptoms severe enough to warrant hospital intervention remained symptomatic 10 years on1. The presence of angioedema and/or anti-thyroid antibodies is also associated with longer disease duration and physical urticarias tend to have a more protracted course. 3. We know viruses can precipitate urticaria but is there anything different about the management and outlook in children? Acute urticaria is relatively common in children often with an obvious trigger – acute infection or allergen ingestion – and rapid remission. CIU is thought to affect between 0.1% and 3% of children in the UK, commonly with accompanying angioedema. Children with urticaria are frequently overinvestigated, and in general the causes tend to be the same as in adults and investigations remain rarely helpful. Often
