Consensus for the practical management of urticaria in primary care

Abstract

Introduction: urticaria has a high impact on the quality of life of patients with this condition. While there are multiple evidence-based guidelines, these tend to be aimed at providing management recommendations for specialists rather than primary care physicians, who are usually the first to care for patients with urticaria.

Objective: to develop a consensus document aimed at presenting evidence-based recommendations to help general practitioners, family doctors, pediatricians, internists and emergency physicians provide timely care for patients with urticaria, facilitating its diagnosis and timely care, and thus avoiding delays for the patients.

Methods: international urticaria guidelines with recommendations based on the GRADE system were used as the source of information. Delegates of the interested scientific societies were convened, and, through structured meetings, treatment barriers and possible solutions for the application of the recommendations in primary care were identified

Results: the main barriers for primary care physicians in applying the guidelines were identified: confusion in the diagnosis, proper timing of treatment, first-line medications, and management of special situations. Possible consensus solutions were proposed for each identified barrier.

Conclusion: this consensus document contains recommendations for the management and treatment of acute and chronic urticaria which help primary care physicians provide timely and effective treatment for patients with this disease