Pharmacologic Management of Chronic Urticaria in Pediatric Patients: The Gap Between Guidelines and Practice

Chronic urticaria is an uncommon disorder in children but can present considerable morbidity, as well as frustration for the healthcare provider and parent. The prevalence is 0.1-0.3% but can vary considerably by country. Chronic spontaneous urticaria (no identifiable cause) is responsible for 70-80% of chronic urticaria, about half of this due to a subtype called chronic autoimmune urticaria identified by the presence of autoantibodies to IgE or the IgE receptor. Chronic urticaria that is triggered by external physical stimuli is called chronic inducible urticaria and is present in another 15-20%. Allergies, infection, and other underlying diseases such as thyroid disease, celiac disease, or Helicobacter pylori infection cause a minor proportion of cases. Chronic urticaria has considerable impact on quality of life and healthcare costs. An adverse impact on quality of life is more prevalent in older children and adolescents and can be comparable to other diseases of childhood such as diabetes and epilepsy. Healthcare costs can be 50% higher than the national estimates for healthy patients and include more hospitalizations, longer duration of hospitalizations, and more emergency department (ED) and outpatient visits. Allergic and autoimmune diseases can be comorbidities that add to healthcare utilization. Resolution can take years. Guidelines are available for diagnosis and treatment. A good history is the key to identifying the cause. Minimal laboratory tests are required and should be guided by the history. Patients with easily controlled urticaria may not need any laboratory tests. Suggested treatment emphasizes the use of non-sedating antihistamines, utilized in a step-wise fashion beginning with normal doses and advancing the dose based on the response up to four times the recommended dose for age. Other treatments are left to the urticaria specialist and are not discussed in this paper. These guidelines are not well utilized based on real-world studies; sedating antihistamines and oral steroids are overutilized. Medications should be taken daily, not as needed. Additional medications, if required, should be added to prior medications in a step-wise fashion. The gap between the guidelines for diagnosis and treatment and what is happening in the real world needs to be closed to reduce the cost and morbidity associated with this disorder.