Chronic idiopathic urticaria: comparison of the clinical features of patients with and without anti-FcepsilonRI or anti-IgE autoantibodies.

BACKGROUND

Previous studies defining the clinical features of patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) were performed before the identification of functional autoantibodies against FcepsilonRI and/or IgE, now known to be present in approximately 30% of patients with CIU.

OBJECTIVE

Our purpose was to determine whether there are differences between patients with and those without autoantibodies in the clinical features or severity of CIU.

METHODS

The clinical features of 107 patients with CIU were evaluated prospectively. Patients were identified as having functional autoantibodies on the basis of the serum-evoked histamine release in vitro from the basophils of 2 healthy donors.

RESULTS

Patients with autoantibodies (31%) had more wheals (P = .005), a wider distribution of wheals (P = .009), higher itch scores for the most severe episodes of itching (P = .002), more systemic symptoms (P = .03), and lower serum IgE levels (P < .0005) than patients without autoantibodies.

CONCLUSION

The presence of autoantibodies indicates a subset of patients with more severe CIU.