Disagreement between skin prick test and specific IgE in young children. Issue 1 (30th November 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Schoos, A.‐M. M.; Chawes, B. L. K.; Følsgaard, N. V.; Samandari, N.; Bønnelykke, K.; Bisgaard, H.
• Is Part Of: Allergy. Volume 70:Issue 1(2015:Jan.)
• Page Start: 41
• Page End: 48
• Publication Date: 2014-11-30
• Subjects: Allergy -- Periodicals; 616.97
• DOI: 10.1111/all.12523
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0105-4538

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="all12523-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="all12523-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Background</title> <p>Skin prick test (SPT) and measurement of serum‐specific IgE (sIgE) level are important tools for the clinician to diagnose allergic sensitization. However, little is known about the agreement between the two methods in young children.</p> </sec> <sec id="all12523-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>SPT and sIgE levels were assessed simultaneously for 16 common inhalant and food allergens at age ½, 1½, 4, and 6 years in 389 children from the Copenhagen Prospective Study on Asthma in Childhood<sub>2000</sub> (COPSAC<sub>2000</sub>) at‐risk birth cohort. Agreement between the two methods for diagnosing inhalant and food allergic sensitization at the four age points was analyzed using kappa statistics.</p> </sec> <sec id="all12523-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>The prevalence of inhalant allergen sensitization increased during childhood diagnosed by both sIgE levels (0.6% to 4.2% to 18.1% to 24.8%, <italic>P</italic> < 0.0001) and SPT results (1.5% to 3.8% to 8.4% to 15.4%, <italic>P</italic> < 0.0001). In contrast, the prevalence of food sensitization increased during childhood when diagnosed from sIgE (7.8% to 12.1% to 15.0% to 18.9%, <italic>P</italic> < 0.0001), but decreased when diagnosed from SPT (5.3% to 5.1% to 3.7% to 3.0%, <italic>P</italic> = 0.05). Overall, the agreement between SPT and sIgE levels was <italic>poor to moderate</italic> (all κ‐coefficients≤0.60) and decreased from <italic>moderate</italic> to <italic>slight</italic> for food allergens by increasing age (κ‐coefficients: 0.46 to 0.31 to 0.16 to 0.14).</p> </sec> <sec id="all12523-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusion</title> <p>There is a substantial disagreement between SPT and sIgE for diagnosing allergic sensitization in young children, which increases with age for food sensitization. Choice of assessment method therefore has major impact on results with wide implications for both clinical practice and research.</p> </sec> </abstract>