Childhood Cold Allergy Lingers and Raises Risk for Anaphylaxis
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In children, the rare disorder cold urticaria (coldU) tends to persist for years and carry an elevated risk for anaphylaxis, a study from Canada reports. ColdU often affects young adults but can occur at any age. "Data on coldU in children are sparse," the authors write in Pediatric Allergy and Immunology. For people with coldU, exposure to cold can trigger a red, itchy, allergic skin rash, swelling, and possibly anaphylaxis.
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@vatan A significantly higher proportion of cold-induced urticaria patients had comorbid asthma and atopic dermatitis compared to chronic spontaneous urticaria patients. The researchers collected data on severity, comorbidities, laboratory values, management, and demographics at baseline and in annual evaluations. To compare children with coldU to those with only CSU, they extracted data from children in a previous study that had used the same registry. Slightly more than half the children with coldU recruited for the study were girls, and the median age at symptom onset among all participants was 9.5 years. Their coldU triggers included swimming, cold weather or air, and cold food or drink. Most patients were taking second-generation H1-antihistamines (sgAHs) to treat the condition.