The global impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the management and course of chronic urticaria
Creators: name: Kocatürk, Emek
name: Salman, Andaç
name: Cherrez‐Ojeda, Ivan
name: Criado, Paulo Ricardo
name: Peter, Jonny
name: Comert‐Ozer, Elif
name: Abuzakouk, Mohamed
name: Agondi, Rosana Câmara
name: Al‐Ahmad, Mona
name: Altrichter, Sabine
name: Arnaout, Rand
name: Arruda, Luisa Karla
name: Asero, Riccardo
name: Bauer, Andrea
name: Ben‐Shoshan, Moshe
name: Bernstein, Jonathan A.
name: Bizjak, Mojca
name: Boccon‐Gibod, Isabelle
name: Bonnekoh, Hanna
name: Bouillet, Laurence
name: Brzoza, Zenon
name: Busse, Paula
name: Campos, Regis A
name: Carne, Emily
name: Conlon, Niall
name: Criado, Roberta F.
name: Souza Lima, Eduardo M.
name: Demir, Semra
name: Dissemond, Joachim
name: Doğan Günaydın, Sibel
name: Dorofeeva, Irina
name: Ensina, Luis Felipe
name: Ertaş, Ragıp
name: Ferrucci, Silvia Mariel
name: Figueras‐Nart, Ignasi
name: Fomina, Daria
name: Franken, Sylvie M
name: Fukunaga, Atsushi
name: Giménez‐Arnau, Ana M.
name: Godse, Kiran
name: Gonçalo, Margarida
name: Gotua, Maia
name: Grattan, Clive
name: Guillet, Carole
name: Inomata, Naoko
name: Jakob, Thilo
name: Karakaya, Gul
name: Kasperska‐Zając, Alicja
name: Katelaris, Constance H
name: Košnik, Mitja
name: Krasowska, Dorota
name: Kulthanan, Kanokvalai
name: Kumaran, M. Sendhil
name: Lang, Claudia
name: Larco‐Sousa, José Ignacio
name: Lazaridou, Elisavet
name: Leslie, Tabi Anika
name: Lippert, Undine
name: Llosa, Oscar Calderón
name: Makris, Michael
name: Marsland, Alexander
name: Medina, Iris V.
name: Meshkova, Raisa
name: Palitot, Esther Bastos
name: Parisi, Claudio A.S.
name: Pickert, Julia
name: Ramon, German D.
name: Rodríguez‐Gonzalez, Mónica
name: Rosario, Nelson
name: Rudenko, Michael
name: Rutkowski, Krzysztof
name: Sánchez, Jorge
name: Schliemann, Sibylle
name: Sekerel, Bulent Enis
name: Serpa, Faradiba S.
name: Serra‐Baldrich, Esther
name: Song, Zhiqiang
name: Soria, Angèle
name: Staevska, Maria
name: Staubach, Petra
name: Tagka, Anna
name: Takahagi, Shunsuke
name: Thomsen, Simon Francis
name: Treudler, Regina
name: Vadasz, Zahava
name: Valle, Solange Oliveira Rodrigues
name: Van Doorn, Martijn B.A.
name: Vestergaard, Christian
name: Wagner, Nicola
name: Wang, Dahu
name: Wang, Liangchun
name: Wedi, Bettina
name: Xepapadaki, Paraskevi
name: Yücel, Esra
name: Zalewska‐Janowska, Anna
name: Zhao, Zuotao
name: Zuberbier, Torsten
name: Maurer, Marcus
Publisher: name: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: chronic urticaria
subject: COVID-19
subject: cyclosporine
subject: omalizumab
subject: pandemic
subject: SARS-CoV-2
subject: treatment
subject: UCARE
subject: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften::610 Medizin und Gesundheit::610 Medizin und Gesundheit

description: Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically disrupts health care around the globe. The impact of the pandemic on chronic urticaria (CU) and its management are largely unknown. Aim To understand how CU patients are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic; how specialists alter CU patient management; and the course of CU in patients with COVID-19. Materials and Methods Our cross-sectional, international, questionnaire-based, multicenter UCARE COVID-CU study assessed the impact of the pandemic on patient consultations, remote treatment, changes in medications, and clinical consequences. Results The COVID-19 pandemic severely impairs CU patient care, with less than 50% of the weekly numbers of patients treated as compared to before the pandemic. Reduced patient referrals and clinic hours were the major reasons. Almost half of responding UCARE physicians were involved in COVID-19 patient care, which negatively impacted on the care of urticaria patients. The rate of face-to-face consultations decreased by 62%, from 90% to less than half, whereas the rate of remote consultations increased by more than 600%, from one in 10 to more than two thirds. Cyclosporine and systemic corticosteroids, but not antihistamines or omalizumab, are used less during the pandemic. CU does not affect the course of COVID-19, but COVID-19 results in CU exacerbation in one of three patients, with higher rates in patients with severe COVID-19. Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic brings major changes and challenges for CU patients and their physicians. The long-term consequences of these changes, especially the increased use of remote consultations, require careful evaluation.