Abstract

Objectives: This study was designed to assess traditional Korean medical therapy on the 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 of 6 point(0-5) score was 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±38.8 months. 2. 57.1% of patients had personal history of allergic diseases and 50% had family history. 29.2% had over 200 IU/mL serum IgE level. 3. The suspected causes were none(39.3%), foods(32.1%), drugs(12.5% drugs), 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±3.75 to 8.82±5.21 and it was significant statistically(p=0.000). 6. Itch severity, frequency of wheals and number of wheals were more lowered significantly of all criteria. Conclusions: Traditional Korean medical therapy was proved to be effective on the urticaria and itch severity, frequency of wheals and number of wheals have to be assessed clinically in more priority.