Urticaria in Patients with COVID -19 Infections

Abstract

Introduction: The relationship between viral infections and acute or chronic urticaria is rarely reported in some articles. But its exact mechanisms are not known. There is evidence of urticaria in the patients with covid-19 infection. Therefore, there was no structured research to clarify the role of the corona virus in the pathogenesis of urticaria.

Methods: The articles that were published from January 2020 to October 2022 were reviewed by "PubMed" and "Google scholar" databases using the keywords acute urticarial urticaria, chronic urticaria along with COVID-19. Inclusion criteria were articles reporting acute or chronic urticaria in the patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection in English. Review articles and studies that reported suspected corona infection and in which urticaria were related to drug hypersensitivity and other allergic diseases were considered as exclusion criteria.

Results: In this search, 43 articles were reviewed that were related to our goals. Among these articles, 27 studies that met the inclusion criteria were selected. 16 articles were case reports, case series, letters to the editor and 7 original articles. In this review, it was reported 17 patients in 16 case reports and case series with urticaria associated with COVID-19.

Conclusion: The severity of chronic urticaria may increase with corona infection. Acute urticaria may be a precursor symptom of COVID-19 infection. Finally, due to the small number of articles and some contradictory results, more studies are suggested in this field.