PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Irani, Carla
AU  - Hallit, Souheil
AU  - Weller, Karsten
AU  - Maurer, Marcus
AU  - Haber, Carla El
AU  - Salameh, Pascale
TI  - Chronic urticaria in most patients is poorly controlled
AID  - 10.15537/smj.2017.12.21206
DP  - 2017 Dec 01
TA  - Saudi Medical Journal
PG  - 1230--1236
VI  - 38
IP  - 12
4099  - http://smj.org.sa/content/38/12/1230.short
4100  - http://smj.org.sa/content/38/12/1230.full
SO  - Saudi Med J2017 Dec 01; 38
AB  - Objectives: To translate and linguistically validate the urticaria control test (UCT) to/for Arabic speakers. No Arabic version of the UCT is available to assess disease control in patients with chronic urticaria (CU). Secondary objectives were to assess disease control in Lebanese CU patients and determine influence factors.Methods: This is a prospective observational study of 178 CU patients diagnosed during their first visit to a private Allergy/Immunology Clinic, Hotel Dieu de France Hospital, Beirut, Lebanon between January and December 2014.Results: Factor analysis showed that all 4 UCT items on the Arabic version converged over a solution of one factor. A high internal consistency was found with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.824. Most patients in this study had chronic spontaneous urticaria (96%), of which 19% also had inducible urticaria. The majority was <40 years (67.4%), with disease duration of <2 years (70.8%). Most patients used H1-antihistamines, but unfortunately, 34.3% used systemic glucocorticosteroids, of which 24.7% also used H1-antihistamines. The disease was poorly controlled in most patients (79.2%, UCT <12). Age, gender, duration, diagnosis, triggers, and/or history of atopy had no influence.Conclusion: We developed the first linguistically validated Arabic UCT to improve CU management in Arabic speaking patients. We also found that disease control was poor in most CU patients, and is unaffected by age, disease duration, gender, subtype, triggers, history of atopy, and/or previous treatments.