RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Chronic urticaria in most patients is poorly controlled
JF Saudi Medical Journal
JO Saudi Med J
FD Prince Sultan Military Medical City
SP 1230
OP 1236
DO 10.15537/smj.2017.12.21206
VO 38
IS 12
A1 Irani, Carla
A1 Hallit, Souheil
A1 Weller, Karsten
A1 Maurer, Marcus
A1 Haber, Carla El
A1 Salameh, Pascale
YR 2017
UL http://smj.org.sa/content/38/12/1230.abstract
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.