Review Article

Rupatadine in allergic rhinitis and chronic urticaria The increasing prevalence of allergic diseases is becoming a major healthcare concern and it remains largely unexplained (1–3) Potential causes include the hygiene hypothesis, which speculates that reduced exposure to allergens during childhood increases the risk of allergy (4), or the pollution hypothesis, which suggests that changes in allergen-distribution patterns and/or individ-ual responses to specific allergens (including new aller-Histamine is the primary mediator involved the pathophysiology of allergic rhinitis and chronic urticaria, and this explains the prominent role that histamine H1-receptor antagonists have in the treatment of these disorders. However, histamine is clearly not the only mediator involved in the inflammatory cascade. There is an emerging view that drugs which can inhibit a broader range of inflammatory processes may prove to be more effective in providing symptomati