Responsiveness to autologous sweat and serum in cholinergic urticaria classifies its clinical subtypes.

Background: It has been reported that patients with cholinergic urticaria have a type 1 allergy to autologous sweat; however, the pathogenesis of that disorder has not been fully elucidated.

Objective: We investigated the responsiveness to autologous sweat and serum in patients with cholinergic urticaria in relation to their clinical characteristics. We further classified the clinical subtypes that are clearly characterized by responsiveness to in vivo and in vitro tests as well as their clinical features.