Serum lipid levels in chronic spontaneous urticaria – An analytical cross-sectional study from a tertiary care center

The primary objective was to compare serum lipid levels in patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) and normal subjects. The secondary objective was to study the clinical profile of patients with CSU. This was a hospital-based analytical cross-sectional study comparing the serum lipid levels in 45 patients with CSU with that of age- and gender-matched normal subjects who attended a tertiary care center during a period of 1 year (January 2020 to December 2020). A structured questionnaire was used to record history and examination findings. Lipid levels were estimated by collecting blood samples after 12 hours of fasting. The data were analyzed by independent sample t-test to compare the mean values between the different groups and Chi-square test for comparing proportion. P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Most of the study participants belonged to the age group of 21–30 years (mean 29.3 years, standard deviation 8.4 years). The male-to-female ratio was 1: 2.2. The majority of the patients in this study (27, 60%) were either overweight or obese. There was a statistically significant elevation in mean serum triglyceride level (TG) in CSU patients in comparison to normal controls (P = 0.008). Patients with a disease duration of more than 6 months had a significantly higher levels of non-high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (non-HDL-C) (P = 0.026) and remnant cholesterol (P = 0.038), and significantly lower levels of mean low-density lipoproteincholesterol (LDL-C) (P = 0.027) and mean LDL/HDL (P = 0.026) in comparison to patients with a disease duration of 6 months or less. Small sample size and the cross sectional design were the main limitations. Patients with CSU showed significantly higher levels of serum TG in comparison to controls. Patients with a disease duration of more than 6 months showed a significant increase in mean remnant cholesterol and non-HDL-C levels, and a significant decrease in LDL-C levels and LDL-C/HDL-C, when compared to those with a disease duration of 6 months or less.