Year: 1935
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Although papular urticaria is, perhaps, the commonest of all the skin disorders of childhood, it receives but scant mention in most of the text- books on dermatology or paediatrics, and relatively few systematic investigations of the disease have been made.This neglect can doubtless be attributed to the benign character of the complaint: it is not a direct menace to life, nor does it constitute a permanent disability.Nevertheless it is an important childish ailment, not only on account of its great frequency, but also because it occasions a good deal of misery in those whom it afflicts, and much anxiety in those responsible for their care.In spite of the large amount of material available for study, no agreement has been reached either as to the nature or aetiology of the complaint, nor has a satisfactory treatment been discovered.This inquiry was undertaken to see what light could be thrown on these problems, especially that of aetiology, by the analysis of the records of 299 patients under twelve years of age who attended the skin department of the Children's Hospital, Birmingham. between January, 1930, and December, 1933; and by a few simple experiments in a smaller number of selected cases.It is not proposed to review in detail the whole of the past literature on the subject, but a few salient points require mention.Ever since the appearance of Bateman's first description, and probably before that, papular urticaria has been recognized as essentially a disease of early childhood, and equally well known is the aggravation of the symptoms by heat, hence the popular term ' heat spots.'In addition to these two factors, its cause has been ascribed to a wide variety of agents and condi- tions.These many different views are not necessarily mutually exclusive.Papular urticaria might be a cutaneous reaction which can be evoked by a number of different stimuli, and some of the alleged causes, while not exciting agents, might predispose to, or aggravate the disease.For a long time, digestive disorders were, by most observers, placed first in the list of causes, but in more recent years the condition has been accepted almost universally as a manifestation of allergy.Much difference of opinion still remains, however, concerning the nature of the allergen.Food is usually regarded as the offender, proteins being most often incriminated, but carbohydrates have also been blamed, while Bray on August 1,
Source: Archives of Disease in Childhood
DOI: 10.1136/adc.10.55.27
Author: B. C. Tate
Language: English
Subfield: Rheumatology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2115342660