title: Taiwanese Dermatological Association consensus for the definition, classification, diagnosis, and management of urticaria.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This report describes the 2014 consensus of the Taiwanese Dermatological Association regarding the definition, classification, diagnosis, and management of urticaria. This consensus is distributed to practices throughout Taiwan to provide recommendations for diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for common subtypes of urticaria, in order to improve the quality of life of urticaria patients. The consensus, thus, serves as an important reference for dermatologists throughout Taiwan.
  
  
  METHODS
  All the consensus contents were voted on by the participating dermatologists, with approval by no less than 75% being required for inclusion. The consensus provides a comprehensive overview of urticaria, including recent advances in identifying its causes and the processes by which it develops.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All the consensus meeting attendees agreed to a definition of urticaria, which states that it is characterized by the sudden appearance of wheals (also known as hives), angioedema, or both. Most of the experts (16 out of 19, or 84.2%) agreed that chronic urticaria is defined as the sudden occurrence of wheals and/or angioedema for a period of ≥ 6 weeks. In addition, the consensus attendees also approved the Urticaria Activity Score system or the Urticaria Activity Score for 7 days system as the recommended method for assessing disease activity in spontaneous urticaria.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It was also determined that the treatment goal for patients with any form of urticaria should be complete cessation of suffering from all urticaria symptoms. The recommended treatment algorithms for chronic spontaneous urticaria and acute urticaria were finally proposed and approved by 100% (19/19) and 84.2% (16/19) of the consensus attendees, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wen-Hung
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chia-Yu
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Huei
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wei-Ming
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: dermadr@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Chih-Hsun
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: tftsai@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Tsen-Fang
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Tsai
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003880:Dermatology / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012955:Societies, Medical; D013624:Taiwan; D014581:Urticaria / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: angioedema; consensus; diagnosis; urticaria