Kolkhir P, et al. - In this study, chronic spontaneous urticaria patients were retrospectively assessed to determine the prevalence of elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in CSU, reason behind elevated levels of CRP among CSU patients, and the relevance of elevated CRP levels, if any. Findings demonstrated that CSU patients commonly exhibited elevated levels of CRP, which were of relevance in these subjects. Notably, the assessment of CRP levels may help to optimize the management of patients with CSU.

Methods

• Researchers used nephelometric method to measure serum levels of CRP.
• They gathered information regarding various laboratory tests including ESR, CBC with differential, D-dimer, fibrinogen, C3, C4, IL-6 etc.
• For most patients, they also obtained data on age, gender, duration of CSU, presence of angioedema, activity (UAS at the time of blood sampling and for 7 days), quality of life (CU-Q2oL and/or DLQI), comorbidities and possible causes of CSU, and autologous serum skin test (ASST) response.
• At the day of blood collecting, the efficacy of second generation antihistamines was assessed.

Results

• Elevated levels of CRP were found among one third of CSU patients.
• Findings demonstrated that higher levels of CRP were associated with ASST positivity (p=0.009) and arterial hypertension (p=0.005), but not with other possible causes or comorbidities of CSU.
• Data also showed a correlation of CRP with urticaria activity (p<0.001), quality of life impairment (p=0.026), inflammatory and coagulation markers (p<0.001).
• In addition, researchers observed that in non-responders to antihistamines vs responders (p<0.001), CRP levels were significantly higher.