Cholestatic pruritus: a retrospective analysis on clinical characteristics and treatment response

Background: Chronic cholestatic pruritus (ChP) is caused by various hepatobiliary disorders. This retrospective study describes the distribution of underlying diseases, clinical characteristics and treatment efficacy in a consecutive collective of patients with ChP. Patients and methods: Extensive data from 60 patients with ChP (30 women, 30 men; mean age: 58.0 ± 17.0 years) were retrospectively statistically analyzed concerning demographic data, pruritus characteristics, and response to therapy. Results: In this study population, 40.0% of the patients suffered from hepatitis B or C. Regarding the overall population, pruritus started in 50% of patients after diagnosis of the underlying hepatobiliary disorder. Only in patients with immune‐mediated liver diseases did pruritus more often occur before diagnosis (p < 0.05). Only 23.3% of the patients reported an initial palmoplantar pruritus. Along with other drugs, anticonvulsants proved to be an effective treatment regime. Conclusions: In this study, viral pathogenesis was the most common cause of ChP. Other underlying diseases were represented to a lower extent in the total study population. Overall, the collected clinical parameters in each group were comparable. Thus, it was difficult to draw conclusions on the pathogenesis.