Clinical characteristics and treatment response of chronic spontaneous urticaria according to age: A single-center Korean study

Abstract

Background: Little information exists regarding the incidence of chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) or differences in its characteristics according to age.Objective: To evaluate the incidence, clinical characteristics and treatment response of CSU according to age. Methods:The relevance of gender, age, history of allergic disease, pre-diagnosis duration, and treatment response were retrospectively evaluated in patients diagnosed with CSU at Pusan National University Hospital between 2011 and 2018.Results: A total of 970 patients were included in the study, consisting of 198 children and 772 adults. The CSU incidence increased during the study period in children, but not in adults. CSU was more common in adults than in children and the peak age of occurrence was 20-59 years. Increased female incidence was noted in adults, whereas patient and family allergic history was frequently observed in children than in adults. The overall rate of improvement was remarkably higher in children than in adults (P < 0.01), with pre-diagnosis duration and treatment duration both shorter in children than in adults. (P = 0.001). The proportion of men was higher and treatment duration was shorter in adolescence than in the other age groups, whereas the treatment duration was shorter in patients greater or equal to 60 years than in adults under 60 years, and the step 1 treatment rate was higher. Conclusion:CSU incidence increased annually in children, but not in adults. The clinical characteristics and treatment response of CSU may differ depending on age and clinicians should be made aware of this fact.

Epidemiological and Clinical Characteristics of Adult and Pediatric Patients with Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria

“…Data regarding the incidence ratio of CSU in pediatric patients are scarce; nevertheless, sex predilection data report an equal incidence between the two sexes [21]. We observed a female predilection (73.9%) in the pediatric group, which could be explained by their higher mean age of diagnosis (15 years), which was younger in other studies [12,22]. The mean age at diagnosis in the adult group was 45.7 years, consistent with the literature [19,20,22].…”

“…Metabolic syndrome was the most common underlying condition in adults (35.9%). A similar prevalence rate was documented in a Republic of Korea study [22,23]. This outcome is higher than the prevalence reported worldwide (12.5-31.4%) and in Israel (10.6-20.2%) according to the definition considered [24,25].…”

“…We observed a female predilection (73.9%) in the pediatric group, which could be explained by their higher mean age of diagnosis (15 years), which was younger in other studies [12,22]. The mean age at diagnosis in the adult group was 45.7 years, consistent with the literature [19,20,22]. However, the mean age (12.9 years) at diagnosis in the pediatric group was higher than that reported in previous studies [12].…”

Prevalence, Clinical Manifestations, Treatment, and Clinical Course of Chronic Urticaria in Elderly: A Systematic Review

“…19,[29][30][31][32][33][34] Only two studies reported the percentage of elderly among all CSU patients in the general population (15.6% and 31.5%), 34,35 while the percentage of elderly among CSU patients from single-center studies ranged from 6.7% to 21.7%. 20,[36][37][38][39][40][41][42] The percentage of elderly CIndU patients was reported in five studies. 32,34,[43][44][45] The highest proportion was described in a general population study (16.3%).…”