Vol 25. no 2
June 2020
Assessment of skin prick tests and sIgE measurement performance in the diagnosis of
(summary)
Bartosz Szmyd, Małgorzata Biedrzycka, Magdalena Rogut, Gabriela Daszkiewicz, Judyta Hałucha, Marcin Kaszkowiak, Marek L. Kowalski, Marcin Kurowski
Skin prick test (SPT) and assessment of specific IgE (sIgE) in peripheral
blood samples are routinely used in the diagnosis of allergy. As current
literature indicates significant differences in sensitivity and specificity
of SPT and sIgE, we decided on assessment of their performance in the
diagnosis of food and inhalant allergy using methods available at our
department.
Material and methods. We performed retrospective analysis of medical
records of 212 patients (42% men; age 4-80 years) diagnosed at
Department of Immunology and Allergy. Results of both SPT and sIgE
assessment for ≥1 food allergen were obtained for 51 patients (total:
254 tests pairs). The statistical analysis was conducted using Statistica
13.1PL.
Results. SPT revealed slightly higher specificity (88.60% vs. 81.25%)
and lower sensitivity (38.75% vs. 58.90%) in comparison to sIgE examination
among patient with suspicion of food allergy. The opposite
tendency was observed for inhaled allergens (specificity: 51.27% vs.
57.89%; sensitivity: 94.12% vs. 68.42%). The results of both tests were
positive for 41.7% patients with a positive history of food allergy and
66.7% for inhalant allergy. In patients with food allergy SPT enabled
allergy diagnosis among >60% allergy patients, when sIgE assessment
among >80%; SPT and SIgE were diagnostic in >95% and >70% patients
with inhalant allergy, respectively. Mean wheal diameter significantly
correlates with sIgE concentration for inhaled allergens.
Conclusions. Our results indicate differential immune response to
inhaled and food allergens as reflected by sIgE in the skin and in serum.
We suggest that both SPT and in vitro tests should be performed
during the diagnosis of food, but not inhalant allergy.
Keywords: food allergy, skin prick test, sIgE
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