Efficacy and safety of treatment with omalizumab for chronic spontaneous
urticaria- a systematic review for the EAACI Biologicals Guidelines
Abstract
This systematic review evaluates the efficacyand safety of omalizumab
for chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU). Pubmed, EMBASE and Cochrane
Library were searched for RCTs. Critical and important CSU-related
outcomes were considered. The risk of bias and the certainty of the
evidence were assessed using GRADE. Ten RCTs including 1620 subjects
aged 12 to 75 years old treated with omalizumab for 16 to 40 weeks were
evaluated. Omalizumab 150 mg: does not result in clinically meaningful
improvement(high certainty) of the urticaria activity score (UAS)7 (mean
difference (MD) -5; 95%CI -7.75 to -2.25) and the itch severity
score(ISS)7 (MD -2.15; 95% CI -3.2 to -1.1); does not increase
(moderate certainty) quality of life (QoL) (Dermatology Life Quality
Index (DLQI); MD -2.01; 95%CI -3.22 to -0.81); decreases (moderate
certainty) rescue medication use (MD -1.68; 95%CI -2.95 to -0.4).
Omalizumab 300 mg:results in clinically meaningful improvements(moderate
certainty)of the UAS7 (MD -11.05; 95%CI -12.87 to -9.24), theISS7 (MD
-4.45; 95%CI -5.39 to -3.51), and QoL (high certainty)(DLQI; MD -4.03;
95% CI -5.56 to -2.5); decreases (moderate certainty) rescue medication
use (MD -2.04; 95%CI -3.19 to -0.88) and drug-related serious AEs (RR
0.77; 95%CI 0.20 to 2.91).