The evolution of emergency urticaria cases before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Urticaria is one of the best-known dermatological diseases and affects between 15% and 25% of the global population. Angioedema, an acute complication of urticaria, affects about 3% of the population. The retrospective study took into account the patients diagnosed with urticaria in the emergency room of the Macin City Hospital, and aimed to assess the epidemiological aspects during the 2015-2020 period, and too see how it the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic influenced the incidence of diagnosed urticaria in the emergency room of a local hospital from South-East Romania. The impact of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic might be observed in the ER activity of city hospitals, where a decreased number of presentations was observed, and, at the same time with an increase in the proportion and absolute number of urticaria cases.