RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Chronic urticaria is a multifactorial disease classified in three main groups: mechanical, autoimmune and idiopathic. So far we don't know the mechanisms that produces it, there are different theories and one of them is the presence of Helicobacter pylori. OBJECTIVE: To establish the relation between chronic urticaria and Helicobacter pylori trough endoscopic and histopatological studies. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Seventy-two patients older than 18 years old, 36 with chronic urticaria and 36 controls with the same sex and age. Complete clinical history, hematical biometry, cutaneous determination of IgE and tests was made to each one. High panendoscopy with gastric biopsy was asked to practice Warthin Starry method and determine Helicobacter pylori existence. The statistical analysis was made with SPSS program, version 11, to establish the bivariated correlation in search of variables dependency. RESULTS: In the group with chronic urticaria, there were 19 (52.8%) patients infected with Helicobacter pylori, and in the control group only 4 (11.1%). We found a chi2 with a value of 12.52 (p < 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: Association between chronic urticaria and Helicobacter Pylori is evident, so we propose a routinely scan for this microorganism in patients with the disease.