Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Turkiye Acil Tip Dergisi, cilt.12, sa.4, ss.175-181, 2012 (SCI-Expanded)
Objectives: The precise definition of the acute urticaria patients presenting to emergency department will improve the clinical approach to the urticaria patient. The aim of this study is to define the demographic features of urticaria patients visiting the emergency department and to find the factors that affect emergency department revisits due to urticaria symptoms. Methods: This was a retrospective case control study. Patients aged 16 and older were enrolled to the study. The number of revisits for the same complaints in the five days following the first visit was determined and the factors affecting the number of recurrent visits was searched. Results: The mean age of 3813 urticaria patients was 40.2±15.8, 2304 of whom were female. 2940 were triaged as non-urgent and 3787 were discharged from the emergency department. The 78 patients with recurrent visits were identified and there was no significant difference between the sex, urticaria or allergy history in the past, receiving H1 and H2 receptor blockers together or receiving two different H1 receptor blockers, the season of the year, comorbid diseases, or medicines for chronic illness between patients who visited the emergency department once and those who visited the emergency department repeatedly. The presence of a possible cause for the urticaria symptoms and chronic urticaria diagnosis were found to be more common in the revisit group. Conclusions: This study has pointed out that scores of urticaria patients are entering emergency departments and these patients may have life-threatening problems. This information can be used to modify emergency clinic curriculum and can contribute to the standardization of urticaria management and follow up. Future prospective studies may be conducted for urticaria management in light of our results.