Allergen-specific IgE: comparison between skin prick test and serum assay in real life

The most common sensitizing allergens in in the area of Liguria region (Northwestern Italy) are pollens, mainly Parietaria and cypress, house dust mites, i.e. Dermatophagoides, and pets. IgE assessment is a crucial step in allergy diagnosis. It may be performed by skin prick test (SPT) or serum IgE (sIgE) assay. Therefore, this study compared these two methods in a real-life setting.

This retrospective study included 793 subjects, who were referred to the Allergy Department for respiratory allergy during 2014. Inclusion criteria were i) documented diagnosis of allergic rhinitis (AR), and/or allergic asthma, and/or allergic conjunctivitis. SPT and sIgE assay were performed for 5 allergens, such as Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (D1), cat (E1), Parietaria officinalis (W19), cypress (T23), and dog (E5), as they are the most common in our geographic area.

Using a positive SPT result as the target condition, remarkably high and statistically significant values of AUC, ranging from 0.84 to 0.94, were found. On the basis of the Youden index the following optimal classification threshold values were also computed: D1 = 0.22, E1 = 0.26, W19 = 0.61, T23 = 0.25, E5 = 0.34. These values allowed to define a set of sensitivity/specifity estimates ranging from 0.75 to 0.93 and from 0.83 to 0.93, respectively.

The present study shows that SPT and sIgE are two tests that are rather concordant, but with different sensitivity and specificity distinct for each allergen. In clinical practice, both tests should be used depending on clinical history features and obtained findings.