RESEARCH STUDY

Higher-dose antihistamines for chronic hives (meta-analysis, 2016)

2016
Meta-analysis
Moderate

One-line finding

Raising the antihistamine dose helped some people with chronic hives, mainly by reducing itch.

Plain-language summary

Researchers pooled studies on people with chronic hives who did not improve on a standard antihistamine dose. Increasing the dose above the usual amount helped a portion of patients, most clearly by easing itch. This supports the guideline advice to try higher doses before moving to other treatments.

Citation

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