Urticaria Activity Score (UAS)

Why Use

Considered the gold standard for assessing disease activity in CSU and is favored by international guidelines. Helps guide treatment decisions and assess the need for therapy adjustments. Facilitates communication between patients and clinicians by quantifying subjective symptoms.

When to Use

For patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) to assess disease activity and symptom severity. Can be clinician-administered at initial and follow-up visits (e.g., UAS) or self-administered by patients at home (e.g., UAS7) before a follow-up visit to monitor treatment response and track symptom fluctuations. May be useful in clinical trials or research settings to standardize disease severity reporting.

Formula

Pearls / Pitfalls

The manual assessment process for this tool can be time-consuming and prone to subjectivity. Does not account for comorbid conditions or secondary symptoms, such as angioedema.

Advice

Use results, in conjunction with clinical judgment and specialist recommendations, to determine if current treatment is effective or if escalation (e.g., antihistamines, biologics) is warranted. Document scores over time to track long-term disease progression or remission. Consider additional evaluation (e.g., triggers, comorbidities) if symptoms persist despite treatment adjustments.

More Information

Interpretation: A cutoff of 11 points for UAS7 showed sensitivity and specificity of 74% and 86%, respectively ( Hawro 2018 ).