Urticaria: an evidence-based update. Conference report

Summary Evidence-based update meetings are held annually by the Centre of Evidence Based Dermatology, University of Nottingham. Topics are chosen by delegates at the previous year's conference and in the past have included blistering disorders, psoriasis, hair disorders and skin cancers. Once the topic is identified, a trials database search is undertaken with the aim of including speakers who are actively involved in trials that address the subject in question. This year, the eighth Evidence Based Update meeting focused on urticaria and took place in Loughborough University on 14 May 2009. The latest data on the diagnosis and management of acute and chronic urticaria, including cold and solar urticaria, and the impact of food intolerance on chronic urticaria, were presented by an international panel of renowned speakers, who sometimes expressed different viewpoints. The highlights of the meeting included an informal atmosphere, an international perspective, and a practical question and answer session. Over 70% of the delegates stated that they would be changing their clinical practice following on from the meeting. The evidence-based update meeting in 2010 will be devoted to eczema.