• Dimitra Koumaki, Vasiliki Koumaki, Sotirios Boumpoucheropoulos, Alexander Katoulis, and Bisola Laguda.
• From the Paediatric Dermatology Department, Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation TRUST, London, United Kingdom.
• Pediatr Emerg Care. 2022 Jan 1; 38 (1): e385e386e385-e386.

ObjectivesTo characterize the clinical presentation, possible trigger factors and seasonality of acute urticaria (AU) in children referred to the emergency department in a teaching hospital in London, United Kingdom.MethodsThis was a retrospective descriptive study. One hundred and sixty-three consecutive patients younger than 18 years with the diagnosis of AU who attended accident and emergency department from January 2018 until January 2020 at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, United Kingdom, were included in the study. Descriptive statistics were performed using IBM SPSS 25.ResultsIn total, 163 patients younger than 18 years, 82 (50.3%) boys and 81 (49.7%) girls. The median age of patients with AU was 4 years (interquartile range, 6 years). In 120 of (73.6%) 163 patients, there was no clear trigger of AU, in 17 (10.4%) of 163 patients, upper respiratory infection was considered as a potential trigger of AU, followed by food in 14 (8.6%) cases, medications in 9 (5.5%) cases, hymenoptera sting in 1 (0.6%) case, and contact urticaria 2 (1.2%) cases. Seventeen (10.4%) of the patients were admitted into the hospital as a result of their urticaria. The majority of AU urticaria cases were reported in autumn with 76 (46.6%) cases with most of AU cases occurring in November (34/163, 20.9%).ConclusionsA total of 163 cases of AU were identified between January 2018 and January 2020. A seasonal trend of AU in autumn was observed. Respiratory infections were found to be the most commonly associated potential trigger of AU cases.Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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