Bronchial reactivity in subjects with urticaria

Background. Respiratory symptoms (rhinitis, asthma) accompany some skin diseases with a proven immunological or allergic pathogenesis whereas the immunological and allergological findings are sometimes negative in subjects with chronic urticarial skin symptoms and no cause can be found. This paper explores the possibility of airway inflammation in cases of this kind. Methods. Nonspecific bronchostimulation with methacholine was carried out in 12 subjects with a clinical history of urticaria and negative immunological and allergological findings. Results. All subjects displayed normal bronchoreactivity (mean PD20 1400 mu g). The bronchostimulation test (evaluated from the FEV1) was always negative. In the control group the mean PD20 was 720 mu g. Conclusions. The fact that these eleven subjects did not display bronchial hyperreactivity suggests that monitoring of their respiratory function is not required.