Contribution to the etiopathogenesis of urticaria in children.

For hundreds of years urticaria has been an intriguing problem for researchers. Together with angioedema it constitutes a common condition that affects 20% of the general population. The etiologic diagnosis is obtained in a variable percentage of cases, according to the different studies published. The clinical course and the association with angioedema are also variables in the different works. It was the diversity of results that led us to undertake the present study. We selected 161 histories of children who came to our department of allergology; these children whose ages ranged from 1-12 years were diagnosed of urticaria and/or angio edema. The number of males was slightly higher than females and the most affected age group was that between 7-12 years. The acute and acute intermittent forms predominated especially in atopic children, highly associated with angioedema; chronic urticaria was less frequent. Within the etiologic factors, food allergy played an important role, followed by drug allergy. It was not possible to reach an etiologic diagnosis in 39.13% of cases.