Karsten Weller1, Adriane Groffik2, Martin K Church1, Tomasz Hawro1, Karoline Krause1, Martin Metz1, Peter Martus3, Thomas B Casale4, Petra Staubach2, Marcus Maurer5. 1. Department of Dermatology and Allergy, Allergie-Centrum-Charité, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany. 2. Department of Dermatology, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany. 3. Institute for Clinical Epidemiology and Applied Biometry, Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. 4. Division of Allergy and Immunology, Creighton University, Omaha, Neb. 5. Department of Dermatology and Allergy, Allergie-Centrum-Charité, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: marcus.maurer@charite.de.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Chronic urticaria is a frequent and debilitating skin disease. Its symptoms commonly fluctuate considerably from day to day. As of yet, the only reliable tool to assess disease activity is the Urticaria Activity Score, which prospectively documents the signs and symptoms of urticaria for several days. OBJECTIVE: We sought to develop and validate a novel patient-reported outcome instrument to retrospectively assess urticaria control, the Urticaria Control Test (UCT). METHODS: Potential UCT items were developed by using established methods (literature research and expert and patient involvement). Subsequently, item reduction was performed by using a combined approach, applying impact and regression analysis. The resulting UCT instrument was then tested for its validity, reliability, and screening accuracy. RESULTS: A 4-item UCT with a recall period of 4 weeks was developed based on 25 potential UCT items tested in 508 patients with chronic urticaria. A subsequent validation study with the 4-item UCT in 120 patients with chronic urticaria demonstrated that this new tool exhibits good convergent and known-groups validity, as well as excellent test-retest reliability. In addition, the screening accuracy to identify patients with urticaria with insufficiently controlled disease was found to be high. CONCLUSIONS: The UCT is the first valid and reliable tool to assess disease control in patients with chronic urticaria (spontaneous and inducible). Its retrospective approach and simple scoring system make it an ideal instrument for the management of patients with chronic urticaria in clinical practice.
BACKGROUND:Chronic urticaria is a frequent and debilitating skin disease. Its symptoms commonly fluctuate considerably from day to day. As of yet, the only reliable tool to assess disease activity is the Urticaria Activity Score, which prospectively documents the signs and symptoms of urticaria for several days. OBJECTIVE: We sought to develop and validate a novel patient-reported outcome instrument to retrospectively assess urticaria control, the Urticaria Control Test (UCT). METHODS: Potential UCT items were developed by using established methods (literature research and expert and patient involvement). Subsequently, item reduction was performed by using a combined approach, applying impact and regression analysis. The resulting UCT instrument was then tested for its validity, reliability, and screening accuracy. RESULTS: A 4-item UCT with a recall period of 4 weeks was developed based on 25 potential UCT items tested in 508 patients with chronic urticaria. A subsequent validation study with the 4-item UCT in 120 patients with chronic urticaria demonstrated that this new tool exhibits good convergent and known-groups validity, as well as excellent test-retest reliability. In addition, the screening accuracy to identify patients with urticaria with insufficiently controlled disease was found to be high. CONCLUSIONS: The UCT is the first valid and reliable tool to assess disease control in patients with chronic urticaria (spontaneous and inducible). Its retrospective approach and simple scoring system make it an ideal instrument for the management of patients with chronic urticaria in clinical practice.
Authors: Martin Metz; Clemens Krull; Tomasz Hawro; Rohit Saluja; Adriane Groffik; Christian Stanger; Petra Staubach; Marcus Maurer Journal: J Invest Dermatol Date: 2014-05-20 Impact factor: 8.551
Authors: Pavel Kolkhir; Ana M Giménez-Arnau; Kanokvalai Kulthanan; Jonny Peter; Martin Metz; Marcus Maurer Journal: Nat Rev Dis Primers Date: 2022-09-15 Impact factor: 65.038
Authors: Marcus Maurer; Kilian Eyerich; Stefanie Eyerich; Marta Ferrer; Jan Gutermuth; Karin Hartmann; Thilo Jakob; Alexander Kapp; Pavel Kolkhir; Désirée Larenas-Linnemann; Hae-Sim Park; Gunnar Pejler; Mario Sánchez-Borges; Knut Schäkel; Dagmar Simon; Hans-Uwe Simon; Karsten Weller; Torsten Zuberbier; Martin Metz Journal: Int Arch Allergy Immunol Date: 2020-03-30 Impact factor: 2.749