Objective:

To estimate the frequency of chronic urticaria in patients who attended an allergy service in a tertiary care hospital; in addition, the main clinical characteristics are described.

Methods:

In a period of 7 months, a total of 96 patients who were over 18 years of age were analyzed; they had been diagnosed with chronic spontaneous urticaria and chronic inducible urticaria.

Results:

The frequency of chronic urticaria was of 1.31 % (n=98); 53 % were associated with some allergic pathology, and 54 % showed an alteration in the paraclinical tests. Chronic spontaneous urticaria was found in 80 % of the patients; and in 62 % of them, the urticaria was associated with angioedema. Chronic urticaria was controlled in 19 % of the studied population with the use of a single antihistamine.

Conclusions:

The frequency of chronic urticaria in our study was lower than the frequency reported nationwide.