Treatment Patterns and Clinical Outcomes of Chronic Urticaria: Two-year Follow-up Results from the Scandinavian AWARE Study

Abstract

The AWARE (A World-wide Antihistamine-Refractory chronic urticaria patient Evaluation) study investiga-ted outcomes in patients with chronic urticaria refractory to H1-antihistamine. The objective of the current study was to analyse the effects of treatment on pa-tients’ symptoms and quality of life for a period of up to 2 years. Over the 2 years, there was clear improvement in the high rates of disease burden from base-line, as evidenced by lower scores for disease severity scales, better quality of life, and a decreasing rate of medical resource utilization. However, this is the re-sult of treatment adherence to the guidelines in highly specialized Scandinavian urticaria centres, and has its basis in the relatively low treatment intensity and con-trol at enrolment. There is a need for greater adherence to the treatment guidelines and better management of antihistamine-refractory chronic urticaria.