Causes of chronic spontaneous urticaria

The trigger for chronic spontaneous urticaria is usually not known.¹ What is known is that allergy is not a cause, and like other forms of urticaria, mast cells are activated by your immune system in response to a perceived threat. They then release histamines and other chemicals into the area, which cause the red, itchy hives.²

Although there is no known trigger there are several causes including:³

• Autoreactivity/autoimmunity – this is where your body produces autoantibodies (antibodies that recognise certain substances within your body as foreign) that activate mast cells even though there is no external threat; it occurs in approximately 50% of people with chronic spontaneous urticaria
• Automimmune disorders – there is a strong association between chronic spontaneous urticaria and other autoimmune disorders such as thyroid autoimmune disease
• Autoallergy – this is where a specific allergy antibody recognises something within your body which then activates the mast cell.³

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