A Pilot Study About Possible Gluten Sensitivity in Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria Patients

Abstract Background CSU (chronic spontaneous urticaria) is defined as Spontaneous appearance of wheals, angioedema, or both for >6 weeks. It might be daily or almost daily, however, it may follow an intermittent/ recurrent course. CSU may recur after a months or years of full remission. Aim of the Work Our aim is to assess gluten free diet effect on CSU activity. Patients and Methods This observational one-arm sequential interventional study was conducted on 90 patients who attended the Allergy Clinic at Ain Shams University Hospitals. Laboratory tests were performed in the Clinical Pathology Lab, Ain Shams University Hospitals, according to standard methods, during the period between March 2024 and September 2024. The study was approved by the Ethical Committee of the Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, and all participants provided their written informed consent. Results In our study showed that 48.3 % of our patients were confirmed to have gluten sensitivity by dietary elimination, reintroduction challenge test. The findings indicate that while the elimination of gluten can reduce urticaria symptoms, reintroducing gluten results in increased symptoms. This highlights the complexity of urticaria, suggesting that gluten may be a contributing factor but not the sole cause. Urticaria is multifactorial, with other factors potentially influencing its occurrence and severity. Conclusion while the majority of evidence suggests that gluten does not significantly impact symptoms in non-gluten sensitive individuals, a minority of studies propose that gluten could still be a trigger for certain symptoms in a specific subset. This nuanced understanding supports your observation of unchanged UAS7 scores, implying that symptoms in non-gluten sensitive individuals are likely unrelated to gluten consumption.