Chronic urticaria (CU) is a condition where you develop hives on a daily basis for longer than six weeks. Hives are itchy, red skin eruptions that are not contagious. They often occur in response to environmental allergens, foods, or medications. In many instances the cause is not known. Current estimates suggest that 10-20% of the population will experience hives at some point, and 1-3% will develop CU.

Previous research has linked vitamin D deficiency to asthma and eczema. Because these same researchers had previously shown patients with CU were more deficient in vitamin D compared to those with allergic rhinitis, they designed this study to see if supplemental vitamin D could help with the symptoms of CU.

The researchers recruited 42 patients with CU and randomized them into two vitamin D supplement groups:

• 21 into the low dose group, 600 IU/day
• 21 into the high dose group, 4,000 IU/day

Patients were eligible to participate in the study if they had been experiencing hives on a daily or near daily basis for the past six weeks.

In addition to vitamin D, all patients were provided with 10 mg of ceterizine twice daily, 150 mg of ranitidine twice daily, and 10 mg of montelukast daily, all drugs for the treatment of CU. They were instructed to take their vitamin D and medications for twelve weeks.

25(OH)D levels were measured at baseline, six weeks, and completion of the study. A Urticaria Symptom Severity (USS) score assessment was administered at the same time to determine how severe CU symptoms were.

One week into the study, there was a 33% reduction in CU symptoms in both groups, which was credited to the drug therapy. However, at completion of the study, only the high vitamin D group showed a statistically significant 40% reduction in total USS score as compared to baseline.

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