Objectives: This study was designed to assess traditional Korean medical therapy for urticaria and establish a clinical assessment guideline.
Methods: Duration of symptoms, personal and family history of allergic diseases, serum IgE level, suspected causes and Provocation factors were investigated in 56 patients. Frequency of wheals, duration of wheals, number of wheals, itch severity and antihistamine counts on a 6-point (0-5) scale were assessed in 34 patients. The change of total scores and each criterion between baseline and follow up were analyzed using paired t-test (p<0.05).
Results: 1. Acute urticaria within 6 weeks was $26.8\%$ and chronic urticaria over 6 weeks was $73.2\%$. The mean duration of symptoms was $19.2\pm38.8$ months. 2. $57.1\%$ of patients had a personal history of allergic diseases and $50\%$had a family history. $29.1\%$ had over 200 IU/mL serum IgE level. 3. The suspected causes were none $(39.3\%)$, foods $(32.1\%)$, drugs $(12.5\%)$, contact $(5.4\%)$ and maternity$(5.4\%)$. 4. The suspected provocation factors were foods $(41.1\%)$, none $(26.8\%)$, fatigue $(12.5\%)$, heat and sweating $(12.5\%)$, pressure $(10,7\%)$ and stress $(7.1\%)$. 5. The total scores between baseline and follow up of 34 patients were lowered from $15.38^{\circ}\;{\ae}3.75\;to\;8.82^{\circ}\;{\ae}5.21$, which was significant statistically (p=0.000). 6. Itch severity, frequency of wheals and number of wheals were the most significantly lowered of all criteria.
Conclusions: Traditional Korean medical therapy was proven to be effective for urticaria, while itch severity, frequency of wheals and number of wheals should be assessed clinically with greater priority.
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