Skin Prick Tests in Patients with Chronic Urticaria

Abstract

Acute or chronic urticaria is not a common manifestation of systemic disease. However it affects 15% of the population at least once during their lives. The most common causes of urticaria are allergic. In all, we studied 130 patients (mean age 54.8) with chronic urticaria, 88 women and 42 men, in an effort to identify common causes of urticaria, using environmental and food allergens. 90 of our patients (69.2%) did not present with skin sensitivity. The remaining 40 individuals presented with skin sensitivity: 20 (15.3%) to food allergens, 14 (10.7%) to environmental allergens and 6 patients (4.6%) to both allergens (environmental and food). We note that in chronic urticaria it is unusual to find underlying causes.