Kolkhir P, et al. - Herein, researchers report the prevalence of autoimmune diseases (AIDs) in patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) and vice versa. Owing to the increased risk of AIDs observed in CSU patients, especially among adult female patients and those with a positive family history and a genetic predisposition for AIDs, screening for signs and symptoms of AIDs was recommended for these patients.

• Researchers searched Pubmed and Google Scholar to identify studies reporting the prevalence of various AIDs in CSU and vice versa published before April 2017.

• An increased prevalence of individual AIDs in CSU was reported (≥ 1% in most studies vs ≤1% in the general population).
• Findings demonstrated that in CSU patients, occurrence of AIDs with relatively high prevalence in the general population was quite common, whereas those with low prevalence remained a rare finding in CSU.
• Researchers found that the rates of comorbidity in most studies were ≥ 1% for insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriasis and celiac disease (CD), ≥ 2% for Graves' disease, ≥ 3% for vitiligo, and ≥ 5% for pernicious anemia and Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
• In CSU, more prevalence of organ-specific AIDs was reported, relative to systemic (multiorgan or non organ-specific) AIDs.
• Autoimmune polyglandular syndromes encompassing autoimmune thyroid disease(ATD) and vitiligo or pernicious anemia were observed in > 2% of CSU patients.
• In addition, the most prevalent AID-associated autoantibodies in CSU were: antithyroid and antinuclear antibodies.
• A positive family history for AIDs was found in > 15% of CSU patients.
• Data showed that the prevalence of urticarial rash in AID patients is > 1% in most studies.
• Researchers found that in eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis, ATD, systemic lupus erythematosus, RA and CD, this rash was more prevalent.