Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in satisfaction with life and coping strategies between
patients with acute and chronic urticaria.
Subjects and methods: Sixty patients with urticaria were divided into 2 groups after 6 weeks of standardized dermatology
treatment (33 patients with acute and 27 patients with chronic urticaria). At baseline, all patients answered the following
questionnaires: Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI-A), The Multidimensional Coping Inventory
(COPE) and General questionnaire (age, gender, education, employment, marital status). After six weeks all the participants were
re-tested with 2 questionnaires: SWLS and PWI-A.
Results: Six weeks after the initial testing there was a statistically significant difference in satisfaction with life between patients
with acute and chronic urticaria. Patients with acute urticaria were more satisfied with their lives than patients with chronic
urticaria. Also, there was a statistically significant difference in the use of emotion-focused coping, seeking social support for
emotional reasons and seeking social support for instrumental reasons. Patients with acute urticaria used emotion-focused coping
and sought social support for emotional and instrumental reasons to a greater degree than patients with chronic urticaria.
Conclusion: Patients with acute urticaria were more satisfied with their lives than patients with chronic urticaria. Patients with
acute urticaria used emotion-focused coping and sought social support for emotional and instrumental reasons to a greater degree
than patients with chronic urticaria