Pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy: clinical and immunopathologic observations in 57 patients.

BACKGROUND

Pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy (PUPPP) has been described either as a homogeneous or a polymorphic clinical process. Its cause is unknown.

OBJECTIVE

We attempted to characterize the clinical and immunopathologic findings in PUPPP on the basis of long-term clinical and immunopathologic observations.

METHODS

The clinical and immunopathologic features of 57 patients with PUPPP were evaluated.

RESULTS

The clinical features in 57 patients with PUPPP were categorized into three types: mainly urticarial papules and plaques (type I), nonurticarial erythema, papules, or vesicles (type II), and combinations of the two forms (type III). Direct immunofluorescence studies in 48 of the 57 patients showed nonspecific immunoreactants in dermal blood vessels and/or moderate granular deposits at the dermoepidermal junction in 15 patients.

CONCLUSION

Type I PUPPP differed from types II and III in clinical appearance and distribution (absence of face, palm, and sole lesions), but trimester onset, parity, and direct immunofluorescence findings were not significantly different among the three groups.