Up-dosing of non-sedating antihistamines in chronic urticaria: Need for well-designed clinical trials in India

Urticaria is a heterogeneous group of diseases. Chronic urticaria significantly impacts quality-of-life of patients. Second generation, non-sedating antihistamines are recommended as first line treatment for chronic spontaneous urticaria. In patients with inadequate control of symptoms, increase in dosage of non-sedating antihistamines up to four fold has been recommended. This recommendation is based on low cost, good safety and good evidence of efficacy of non-sedating, second generation antihistamines. This article reviewed Indian data on up-dosing of antihistamines in chronic urticaria. There is a need for well-designed clinical trials with -up-dosing of individual antihistamines in Indian patients.