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Intravenous (IV) diphenhydramine has long been a staple for treating patients with acute urticaria in urgent care settings, but it causes substantial sedation. In this industry-funded, multisite North American, randomized trial that involved 262 adults who presented to an emergency department or urgent care facility with acute urticaria, researchers compared 10 mg of IV cetirizine (Quzyttir) versus 50 mg of IV diphenhydramine.
Mean patient-rated pruritus severity scores were the same at 2 hours. Patients who received cetirizine spent less time in the treating facility (mean, 2.0 vs. 1.4 hours) and were less likely to return to the treatment center within 24 or 48 hours. Patients who received diphenhydramine were more likely to report sedatio…