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Giornale Italiano di Dermatologia e Venereologia 2016 October;151(5):544-52

Copyright © 2016 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Gender-related differences in chronic urticaria

Nicoletta CASSANO ¹, Delia COLOMBO ², Gilberto BELLIA ², Emanuela ZAGNI ², Gino A. VENA ¹ ✉

¹ Dermatology and Venereology Private Practice, Bari, Italy; ² Novartis Farma, Origgio, Varese, Italy

Chronic urticaria (CU) is a common skin disorder with important repercussion on the quality of life (QoL) and a relevant socioeconomic impact. CU is included among the skin diseases that exhibit a significant female preponderance, with an average female to male ratio of nearly 2-4/1. In recent years, an ever-growing interest in gender medicine has been registered and the assessment of gender differences has increasingly become an attractive issue in clinical research. Unfortunately, there are only limited data relative to the study of CU in the perspective of gender medicine. However, apart from the predilection for females, an in-depth evaluation of the available literature shows the existence of other interesting gender-related differences in CU. The aim of this article is to review the current knowledge on gender differences in CU under different points of view, including pathophysiology, epidemiology, clinical and prognostic features, association with comorbidities, psychological aspects and QoL.