Association between chronic idiopathic urticaria and hypertension: A population-based retrospective cohort study.
Chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) is defined as urticaria that is not caused by external triggers. The pathogenesis of CIU remains unknown. A previous study investigated whether hypertension is associated with extended duration of CIU.



To investigate the possible association between CIU and hypertension.



We performed a population-based retrospective cohort study of 2,460 patients with CIU and 9,840 age-, sex-, and index year-matched comparison patients, using the National Health Insurance of Taiwan database. The median follow-up periods were 7.13 years for the CIU cohort and 7.20 years for the non-CIU cohort. The distributions by sex and age were similar for both cohorts.



The CIU cohort had a 1.37-fold (95% CI, 1.22-1.53) greater risk of developing subsequent hypertension than the non-CIU cohort after adjusting for sex, age, comorbidities, and nonsedating antihistamine use.



This nationwide retrospective cohort study found that CIU is associated with a higher future risk of hypertension after adjusting for sex, age, comorbidities, and nonsedating antihistamine use. The detailed pathophysiologic mechanisms require further clarification in prospective studies.
Department of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Heng-Wei
HW
Chang
Department of Integration of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; School of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Hui-Man
HM
Cheng
Department of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; School of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Research Center for Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Hung-Rong
HR
Yen
Department of Neurology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Chung Y
CY
Hsu
Department of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Yu-Chen
YC
Lee
Research Center for Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Management Office for Health Data, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
Jen-Huai
JH
Chiang
Department of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan. Electronic address: maofeng@mail.cmuh.org.tw.
Mao-Feng
MF
Sun
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013624:Taiwan; D014581:Urticaria / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult