Urticaria and Homeopathy: The Unmet Clinical Needs

Background: Chronic urticaria (CU) is a disturbing allergic condition of the skin, defined as the occurrence of hives, pruritus and/or angioedema for more than 6 weeks.

Aim: To assess the clinical outcome associated with individualised homeopathic remedies on CU symptoms in patients who had remained symptomatic despite concomitant antihistamine therapy.

Methods: We performed a clinical observational study of ten patients in the treatment of CU symptoms over a two-year period (2015 and 2016). Informed consent was obtained from each patient. End points were measured from a daily diary that reflected weekly hive score (WHS) and weekly itch score (WIS). QoL was evaluated using a CU quality of life questionnaire (CU-Q2oL) score.

Results: Overall average WHS at baseline was 18.2 (standard deviation, SD, 3.6) and WIS was 21 (SD, 0). At 4 weeks, 8 weeks and 12 weeks the mean (SD) change from baseline in the WHS was −9.7 (4.4), −13.3 (4.8) and −18.2 (3.6) respectively. Mean (SD) changes from baseline in WIS after 4 weeks, 8 weeks and 12 weeks were −8.6 (2.4), −15 (2.8) and −20.9 (0.3) respectively.

Overall mean CU-Q2oL scores at baseline of all ten patients were 76.0 (1.0) which improved to 43.7 (0.5) at week 4, 28.2 (0.4) at week 8 and 23.9 (0.2) at week 12. In all patients, use of antihistamine decreased from 10 mg twice daily at study baseline to none at week 12.

Conclusion: Individualised homeopathic treatment was associated with alleviation of CU symptoms, enabling reduction in use of conventional treatment. The results presented in this study can be considered as a step towards a pilot pragmatic study using homeopathy.

Keywords: Chronic urticaria, weekly hive score, weekly itch score