Urticaria

TUESDAY, Nov. 14, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), acupuncture produces a greater improvement in the Weekly Urticaria Activity Score (UAS7), although the difference is not clinically significant, according to a study published online Nov. 14 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.Hui Zheng, M.D., Ph.D., from the Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China, and colleagues conducted a randomized, sham-controlled trial involving 330 participants diagnosed with CSU at three teaching hospitals in China. Participants were randomly assigned to receive acupuncture, sham acupuncture, or a wait-list control over an eight-week study period (four weeks of treatment and four of follow-up).The researchers found that from baseline to week 4, the mean change in UAS7 was –8.2 for acupuncture (mean score, 23.5 to 15.3). For sham acupuncture and wait-list control, the mean changes in UAS7 from baseline to week 4 were −4.1 and −2.2, respectively. Comparing acupuncture with sham acupuncture and wait-list controls, the mean differences were −4.1 and −6.1, respectively, which did not meet the threshold for minimal clinically important difference. Adverse events, which were mild and transient, were reported in 15 participants (13.6 percent) in the acupuncture group and none in other groups."This is the first description of the efficacy of acupuncture in yet another nonpain condition, albeit lacking in clinical importance in terms of the magnitude of the mean difference from baseline," Mike Cummings, M.B.Ch.B., from the British Medical Acupuncture Society in London, writes in an accompanying editorial.

However, differences between acupuncture and sham acupuncture, wait-list control did not meet threshold for minimal clinically important difference

Acupuncture Offers Some Benefit in Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://d18uhdhjoz8by6.cloudfront.net/fcpanp23_Sanofi_Poster_1_Maurer_LIBERTY_CSU_CUPID_A_CU_Q2_Ol_566c1f77d9.pdf" download="fcpanp23_Sanofi_Poster_1_Maurer_LIBERTY_CSU_CUPID_A_CU_Q2Ol_.pdf">Click here to view poster PDF</a>Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by wheals, angioedema, or both that recur for more than 6 weeks and cause itching and burning. The current standard of care is antihistamines, but many patients continue to experience disease burden despite this treatment. This poster presents data from LIBERTY-CSU CUPID Study A, a randomized, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial of dupilumab for up to 24 weeks in patients at least 6 years of age with CSU who remain symptomatic despite treatment with antihistamines. The study found that dupilumab led to an average reduction in mean Urticaria Activity Score over 7 days (UAS7) of 20.5 points compared to a reduction of 12.0 points by placebo. Additionally, dupilumab had a mean reduction of 29.6 points in the Chronic Urticaria Quality of Life questionnaire (CU-Q2ol) compared to a reduction of 21.0 points by placebo.

In this poster presented at the 2023 Fall Clinical Dermatology Conference for PAs & NPs in Orlando, Maurer and colleagues present data from a phase 3 trial of dupilumab use for chronic spontaneous urticaria

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