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Background: Few studies have explored the association between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and chronic urticaria (CU). Our study aims to fill this gap by determining the frequency of the risk categories for OSA and how they might correlate with the specific CU patient reported outcome measures urticaria activity score (UAS7), urticaria control test (UCT) and CU quality of life questionnaire (CU-Q2oL). Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study involving a cohort of 171 Latin American CU patients. Descriptive statistics were used to determine frequency and proportions for demographic and clinical variables, while a chi-squared test for association between STOP-Bang OSA questionnaire categories and both UAS7 and UCT categories was performed to analyze how such variables interact. To further assess the strength of the correlation a Cramer's V coefficient was reported. Finally, a Kendall-Tau b correlation coefficient was performed to measure the correlation between the STOP-Bang score and other independent continuous variables. Results: The average STOP-Bang score was 2.5, with 24% and 21% of patients falling into the intermediate and high-risk category for moderate-to-severe OSA, respectively. There was a strong statistically significant association (Cramer's V = 0.263; p = .000) between UAS-7 categories and STOP-Bang risk categories. A similar pattern of strong significant association (Cramer's V = .269; p = .002) was observed between UCT categories and STOP-Bang risk categories. A weak positive correlation between the STOP-Bang score and the CU-Q2oL average score (τb = 0.188, p = .001) was identified. Overall, 72.5% patients reported limitations with respect to sleep in a varied degree according to the CU-Q2oL. Conclusions: Our results suggest that a considerable proportion of patients with CU are at intermediate to high risk for OSA. Higher disease activity, poor CU control, and worse quality of life were all found to be associated with an increase

Background: information/communication technologies such as mobile phone applications (apps) would enable chronic urticaria (CU) patients to self-evaluate their disease activity and control. Yet, recently Antó et al (2021) reported a global paucity of such apps for patients with CU. In this analysis, we assessed patient interest in using apps to monitor CU disease activity and control using questions from the chronic urticaria information and communication technologies (CURICT) study. Methods: the methodology for CURICT has been reported. Briefly, a 23-item questionnaire was completed by 1841 CU patients from 17 UCAREs across 17 countries. Here, we analyzed patient responses to the CURICT questions on the use of apps for urticaria-related purposes. Results: as previously published, the majority of respondents had chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU; 63%; 18% chronic inducible urticaria (CIndU) [CIndu]; 19% with both), were female (70%) and in urban areas (75%). Over half of patients were very/extremely interested in an app to monitor disease activity (51%) and control (53%), while only ?1/10 were not. Patients with both urticaria types versus those with CSU only (odds ratio [OR], 1.36 [1.03-1.79]) and females versus males (OR [95% CI], 1.47 [1.17-1.85]) were more likely to be very to extremely interested in an app to assess disease control. Conclusions: overall, half of the patients with CU were very to extremely interested in using an app to assess their disease activity and control. Development of well-designed apps, specific to disease types (CSU, CIndU, CSU + CIndU, etc), validated by experts across platforms would help improve the management and possibly outcomes of CU treatment while providing important patient information to be used in future research. Keywords: UCARE; apps; chronic inducible urticaria; chronic spontaneous urticaria; chronic urticaria; chronische induzierbare urtikaria; chronische spontane urtikaria; chronische urtikaria., UCARE

Background: Information/communication technologies such as mobile phone applications (apps) would enable chronic urticaria (CU) patients to self-evaluate their disease activity and control. Yet, recently Antó et al (2021) reported a global paucity of such apps for patients with CU. In this analysis, we assessed patient interest in using apps to monitor CU disease activity and control using questions from the chronic urticaria information and communication technologies (CURICT) study. Methods: The methodology for CURICT has been reported. Briefly, a 23-item questionnaire was completed by 1841 CU patients from 17 UCAREs across 17 countries. Here, we analyzed patient responses to the CURICT questions on the use of apps for urticaria-related purposes. Results: As previously published, the majority of respondents had chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU; 63%; 18% chronic inducible urticaria (CIndU) [CIndu]; 19% with both), were female (70%) and in urban areas (75%). Over half of patients were very/extremely interested in an app to monitor disease activity (51%) and control (53%), while only ∼1/10 were not. Patients with both urticaria types versus those with CSU only (odds ratio [OR], 1.36 [1.03–1.79]) and females versus males (OR [95% CI], 1.47 [1.17–1.85]) were more likely to be very to extremely interested in an app to assess disease control. Conclusions: Overall, half of the patients with CU were very to extremely interested in using an app to assess their disease activity and control. Development of well-designed apps, specific to disease types (CSU, CIndU, CSU + CIndU, etc), validated by experts across platforms would help improve the management and possibly outcomes of CU treatment while providing important patient information to be used in future research.

Background: Patients with chronic urticaria (CU) are increasingly using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to manage their health. What CU patients expect from ICTs and which ICTs they prefer remains unknown. We assessed why CU patients use ICTs, which ones they prefer, and what drives their expectations and choices. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 1841 patients across 17 countries were recruited at UCAREs (Urticaria Centers of Reference and Excellence). Patients with CU who were >12 years old completed a 23-item questionnaire. Results: Most patients were interested in receiving disease information (87.3%), asking physicians about CU (84.1%), and communicating with other patients through ICTs (65.6%). For receiving disease information, patients preferred one-to-one and one-to-many ICTs, especially web browsers. One-to-one ICTs were also the ICTs of choice for asking physicians about urticaria and for communicating with other patients, and e-mail and WhatsApp were the preferred ICTs, respectively. Many-to-many ICTs such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter were least preferred for all 3 purposes. Living in rural areas and higher education were linked to higher odds of being interested in receiving disease information, asking physicians, and communicating with patients through ICTs. Conclusions: Most patients and especially patients with higher education who live in rural areas are interested in using ICTs for their healthcare, but prefer different ICTs for different purposes, ie, web browsers for obtaining information, e-mail for asking physicians, and WhatsApp for communicating with other patients. Our findings may help to improve ICTs for CU.

Background: Chronic urticaria (CU) is characterized by itchy recurrent wheals, angioedema, or both for 6 weeks or longer. CU can greatly impact patients' physical and emotional quality of life. Patients with chronic conditions are increasingly seeking information from information and communications technologies (ICTs) to manage their health. The objective of this study was to assess the frequency of usage and preference of ICTs from the perspective of patients with CU.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 1800 patients were recruited from primary healthcare centers, university hospitals or specialized clinics that form part of the UCARE (Urticaria Centers of Reference and Excellence) network throughout 16 countries. Patients were >12 years old and had physician-diagnosed chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) or chronic inducible urticaria (CIndU). Patients completed a 23-item questionnaire containing questions about ICT usage, including the type, frequency, preference, and quality, answers to which were recorded in a standardized database at each center. For analysis, ICTs were categorized into 3 groups as follows: one-to-one: SMS, WhatsApp, Skype, and email; one-to-many: YouTube, web browsers, and blogs or forums; many-to-many: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.Results: Overall, 99.6% of CU patients had access to ICT platforms and 96.7% had internet access. Daily, 85.4% patients used one-to-one ICT platforms most often, followed by one-to-many ICTs (75.5%) and many-to-many ICTs (59.2%). The daily ICT usage was highest for web browsers (72.7%) and WhatsApp (70.0%). The general usage of ICT platforms increased in patients with higher levels of education. One-to-many was the preferred ICT category for obtaining general health information (78.3%) and for CU-related information (75.4%). A web browser (77.6%) was by far the most commonly used ICT to obtain general health information, followed by YouTube (25.8%) and Facebook (16.3%). Similarly

Background: chronic urticaria (CU) is characterized by itchy recurrent wheals, angioedema, or both for 6 weeks or longer. CU can greatly impact patients' physical and emotional quality of life. Patients with chronic conditions are increasingly seeking information from information and communications technologies (ICTs) to manage their health. The objective of this study was to assess the frequency of usage and preference of ICTs from the perspective of patients with CU. Methods: in this cross-sectional study, 1800 patients were recruited from primary healthcare centers, university hospitals or specialized clinics that form part of the UCARE (Urticaria Centers of Reference and Excellence) network throughout 16 countries. Patients were >12 years old and had physician-diagnosed chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) or chronic inducible urticaria (CIndU). Patients completed a 23-item questionnaire containing questions about ICT usage, including the type, frequency, preference, and quality, answers to which were recorded in a standardized database at each center. For analysis, ICTs were categorized into 3 groups as follows: one-to-one: SMS, WhatsApp, Skype, and email; one-to-many: YouTube, web browsers, and blogs or forums; many-to-many: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Results: overall, 99.6% of CU patients had access to ICT platforms and 96.7% had internet access. Daily, 85.4% patients used one-to-one ICT platforms most often, followed by one-to-many ICTs (75.5%) and many-to-many ICTs (59.2%). The daily ICT usage was highest for web browsers (72.7%) and WhatsApp (70.0%). The general usage of ICT platforms increased in patients with higher levels of education. One-to-many was the preferred ICT category for obtaining general health information (78.3%) and for CU-related information (75.4%). A web browser (77.6%) was by far the most commonly used ICT to obtain general health information, followed by YouTube (25.8%) and Facebook (16.3%). Similarly, for CU-specific, World Allergy Organization; Allakos; Alnylam; Aralez; AstraZeneca; Biocryst; Blueprint; CSL Behring; FAES; Genentech; Kalvista Pharmaceuticals; LEO Pharma; Menarini; Moxie; MSD; Novartis; Pharming; Pharvaris; Roche; Sanofi; Shire/Takeda; UCB; Dr. Pfleger; Uriach; Glaxo SmithKline; Abbvie; BMS; Celgene; Janssen Cilag; Lilly; Pfizer; Sanofi-Genzyme; Eli Lilly; Janssen; Pierre Fabre; Instituto Carlos III- FEDER; Bayer; Chiesi; Galenica Greece; Nestle; Nutricia; Takeda

Ivan Cherrez-Ojeda,1,2 Emanuel Vanegas,1,2 Miguel Felix,1,2 Valeria L Mata,1,2 Fanny M Jiménez,1,2 Mabel Sanchez,3,4 Daniel Simancas-Racines,5 Sofia Cherrez,6 Antonio WD Gavilanes,7,8 Johannes Eschrich,2 Peter Chedraui9,10 1Universidad Espíritu Santo, Samborondón, Ecuador; 2Respira Lab Research Group, Guayaquil, Ecuador; 3Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro, Manabí, Ecuador; 4Universidad Estatal Del Sur Del Manabí, Manabí, Ecuador; 5Centro De Investigación En Salud Pública y Epidemiología Clínica, Facultad De Ciencias De La Salud Eugenio Espejo, Universidad Tecnológica Equinoccial, Quito, Ecuador; 6School of Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; 7Department of Pediatrics, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, the Netherlands; 8School of Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands; 9Instituto De Investigación e Innovación En Salud Integral, Facultad De Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Católica De Santiago De Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Ecuador; 10Facultad De Ciencias De La Salud, Universidad Católica “Nuestra Señora De La Asunción”, Asunción, ParaguayCorrespondence: Ivan Cherrez-OjedaUniversidad Espíritu Santo, Km. 2.5 Vía La Puntilla, Samborondón 0901-952, EcuadorTel +593 4511455Email ivancherrez@gmail.comObjective: In recent years, the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has increased in various sectors, among which the healthcare service is no exception. However, studies have mostly focused on the use of ICTs among patients with chronic diseases, with few reports on the advantages and barriers of these technologies among physicians, particularly in Latin America. We designed this study to fill in the gap, as an objective assessment of the frequen

Ivan Cherrez-Ojeda,1,2 Emanuel Vanegas,1,2 Miguel Felix,1,2 Sofia Cherrez,2,3 Delia Suárez-Almendariz,4 Johana Ponton,5 Vladimir Preciado,6 Edgar Ollague-Cordova,7 Enrique Loayza5 1Universidad Espíritu Santo, Samborondón, Ecuador; 2Respiralab Research Group, Guayaquil, Ecuador; 3School of Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; 4Departamento de Dermatología, Honorable Cuerpo Consular de Damas, Durán, Ecuador; 5Departamento de Dermatología, Hospital Luis Vernaza, Guayaquil, Ecuador; 6Área de Fototerapia, Hospital Luis Vernaza, Guayaquil, Ecuador; 7Clínica Dermatológica Ollague, Guayaquil, EcuadorCorrespondence: Ivan Cherrez-OjedaUniversidad Espíritu Santo, Km. 2.5 vía La Puntilla, Samborondón 0901-952, EcuadorTel +5934511455Email ivancherrez@gmail.comObjective: We designed this study to determine the frequency of alexithymia in Ecuadorian patients with psoriasis, as well as possible associations between demographic factors, disease severity, and treatment adherence.Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 99 Ecuadorian patients with psoriasis was conducted. Multinomial logistic regressions were performed to ascertain whether age, gender, educational level, years with disease, psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) scores, and treatment adherence categories are prediction factors in patients with psoriasis to present alexithymia, possible alexithymia or no alexithymia.Results: A total of 99 patients participated in the study with a gender distribution of 57.6% male, and an average age and years with disease of 48.3 and 7.4, respectively. Out of all patients, 33.3% presented alexithymia, and 22.2% possible alexithymia, as assessed by the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). The multiple regression model statistically significantly predicted the TAS-20 score from age, gender, educational level, years with psoriasis, PASI score and level o