The Relationship of Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria with Anxiety and Depression in Children

Özet

Aim: Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is characterized by urticaria recurring almost every day and lasting more than six weeks, with eitherknown or unknown etiology. It may lead to various psychiatric disorders. Our aim is to determine the relationship of CSU with depression andanxiety in children.Materials and Methods: Children younger than 18 years of age who were followed by the Pediatric Immunology and Allergy Clinic of DiyarbakırChildren’s Hospital with diagnosis of CSU were included in the study. A control group matched in terms of age and sex was formed. Both patientand control groups were evaluated by pediatric psychiatrics with regards to anxiety and depression. Prior to psychiatrics evaluation, Beck’sanxiety and depression scales were applied to the children aged 12 years or above. Patient and control groups were compared for anxiety anddepression disease and symptom scores.Results: The study included 63 patients, 32 of whom were aged 12 years or above (12+ patients), and 82 controls, 32 of whom were aged 12 yearsor above (12+ controls). In the patient group, both anxiety and depression disorders were significantly more frequent. Similarly, anxiety anddepression symptom scores were significantly higher in the 12+ patient group. This increase was found to show positive correlation with ageand disease duration (p 0.05).Conclusion: In children, CSU leads to anxiety and depression. This condition increases with age and disease duration.