AbstractIntroduction: Chronic urticaria negatively affects both work and social life of the patients because of its chronic relapsing course and poor response to therapy. Despite advances in research, the etiology and the reason for the varying intensity and frequency of clinical presentation still remains a dilemma. Aim: To study the clinical profile of chronic urticaria in a tertiary care centre. Methods: Patients of both sexes between 14 and 55 years with a clinical diagnosis of chronic urticaria in whom a cause was not identifiable on assessment with a standard protocol were included in the study. Results: Fifty patients of chronic urticaria were studied and the mean age was 30.22 years and females predominated with the male: female ratio being 1:2.85. The mean duration of urticaria was 27.42 months and in 48% of cases the urticaria lesions resolved in less than 30 minutes. There was associated angioedema in 38% and delayed pressure urticaria in 46%. Limitations: The limitation of the study was the small sample size. Conclusions: The clinical profile of chronic idiopathic urticaria in our study is comparable to other studies.

Keywords: Chronic urticaria, chronic idiopathic urticaria, chronic spontaneous urticaria