| Abstract: |
A Worldwide Antihistamine-Refractory Chronic Urticaria (CU) patient Evaluation (AWARE) is a non-interventional, multicenter study including patients from Europe, Central and Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East. AWARE describes real-world evidence for CU, including clinical characteristics, treatment patterns and the impact on quality of life. Over the 2-year study, therapy changes, angioedema occurrence, and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) were recorded over 9 visits, including dermatology life quality index (DLQI) and 7-day urticaria activity score (UAS7). Data were stratified into subgroups: chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), chronic inducible urticaria (CIndU), or CSU + CIndU. Out of 4838 patients analyzed, 9. 9% were receiving no treatment for their CU symptoms at baseline, and 20. 4% were receiving first-line non-sedating H-antihistamine at approved doses. The predominant baseline therapy was up-dosed non-sedating H-antihistamines (25. 5%). By Visit 2, omalizumab was the overall most commonly used therapy (29. 6%), increasing to 30. 1% by the end of the study. Baseline DLQI scores for patients with CSU, CIndU and CSU + CIndU were 8. 3, 7. 6 and 9. 1, respectively; scores decreased over the study for CSU and CSU + CIndU patients, but fluctuated for CIndU patients. Baseline angioedema occurrence was higher in CSU and CSU + CIndU patients, reported in 45. 4% and 45. 5% of patients, respectively, compared to 17. 0% in CIndU patients. By the final visit, angioedema had decreased to 11. 9% and 11. 2% for CSU and CSU + CIndU, respectively, and 9. 6% for CIndU. CU patients are undertreated at baseline; after entering the AWARE study, more patients received appropriate treatment. However, over two thirds are not escalated to third-line treatments. |
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(Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin)
