Loading...
As much as 1% of the population suffers from chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), also called chronic idiopathic urticaria, with urticarial wheals occurring on a regular basis for longer than 6 weeks. Some patients might have an autoimmune etiology with autoantibodies directed toward immunoglobulin E and its receptor but, for most patients, a cause is never discovered. Many patients end up receiving expensive testing; some guidelines suggest routine testing that includes complete blood count, sedimentation rate, thyroid-stimulating hormone level, and liver enzyme levels, but their utility is dubious.
Computer modeling was used to examine the cost-effectiveness of 16 commonly ordered tests versus no testing in patients with CSU. The increment…