This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Skin prick test plus aeroallergen specific IgE yielded better diagnostic results in young children

ORLANDO, Fla. — Diagnostic yields for asthma in young atopic children were optimized by testing with a skin prick test plus allergen specific immunoglobulin, according to data presented during the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 2012 Annual Meeting.

Purvi Parikh, MD, Allergy and Immunology Fellow at Albert Einstein College of Medicine Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, N.Y., said the study also shows that a number of aeroalleren sensitizations are missed when testing with skin prick test (SPT) or serum IgE alone.

Researchers collected SPT and allergen specific IgE for eight common aeroallergens from 33 highly atopic children with a mean age of 36 months. An average mismatch of 35% was found between SPT and serum IgE when minimum value for serum IgE was 0.1 kU/L.

“More studies are showing that the earlier you do these tests, the more cases are caught, especially in children already showing symptoms and are sensitized,” said Parikh. “If you have a high suspicion, it may be useful to do both tests.”

Parikh now plans to study the feasibility of allergy shots for the very young, acknowledging that it is not now the standard of care.

Disclosure: Dr. Parikh reports no relevant financial disclosures.

For more information:

• Parikh P. #335. Discordance Between Skin Prick Test and Aeroallergen Specific IgE in Children Under the Age of Four. Presented at: the 2012 AAAAI Annual Meeting; March 2-6, 2012; Orlando.