Food allergy, anaphylaxis, dermatology, and drug allergyThe atopy patch test in the diagnostic workup of suspected food-related symptoms in children
Section snippets
Study population
We studied 437 children consecutively referred to our department for evaluation of suspected food allergy. Suspicion was defined as either the feeling of the parents that food could contribute to clinical symptoms of the child or that an IgE test result was positive in a child with moderate or severe eczema. Patients with a clear history of a severe allergic reaction to an isolated food were not included. Patients' ages ranged from 3 months to 14 years (median, 13 months), and the majority were
Clinical outcome
We analyzed a total of 873 controlled oral challenges with CM, HE, wheat, soy, and placebo in 437 children. Three hundred ninety (73%) of 532 verum challenge results and 10 (3%) of 341 placebo challenge results were assessed as positive. One hundred twenty-eight (66%) of 193 egg challenge results, 168 (49%) 341 of those with CM, 57 (36%) 159 of those with wheat, and 37 (26%) 180 of those with soy were assessed as positive. Of the 390 positive food challenge results, 262 (67%) were assessed as
Single test parameters
Considering the APT as a single test, our data show that specificity of the APT was higher than that for sIgE measurement or the SPT for all 4 allergens (Table I). In contrast, sensitivity was lower. This confirms previous investigations of the APT.38, 42 Between the 2 IgE-testing parameters, the SPT was superior to the determination of specific IgE regarding specificity, whereas sensitivity was lower for all 4 foodstuffs. Regarding the predictive parameters of specificity, sensitivity,
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Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: K. Beyer has received grant support from the Danonc Institute FAAN, and the European Union. The rest of the authors have declared that they have no conflict of interest.