Chronic urticaria: An overview

Abstract

Urticaria is a fairly common condition characterized by transient swellings of the skin. This could be an extremely disabling and difficult-to-treat condition. Chronic urticaria has multifactorial aetiologies including intolerance to food or drugs, infectious diseases, and autoimmune processes. With the demonstration of auto antibodies against IgE receptor or IgE itself, a new subset of chronic urticaria has been identified as autoimmune urticaria. Further studies in this field in the recent past have contributed considerably in understanding the pathomechanism of urticarias in a better way. Controlled trials with immunomodulator drugs have further broadened our pharmacologic approach, especially in patients with severe refractory urticaria. This article reviews the types of urticaria, its causes, pathophysiologic basis and current approaches in its management.

Keywords

• Chronic urticaria
• autoimmune urticaria
• antihistamines