Association of Severity of Allergic Conjunctivitis with Skin Prick Test

To investigate the association between skin prick test and severity of allergic conjunctivitis.

Cross sectional observational study. Study Place and Duration of Study: Akbar Niazi Teaching Hospital, Bara Kahu, Islamabad, between March and September 2019.

150 eyes of 150 diagnosed cases of allergic conjunctivitis, who had had a skin prick test, were included in the study. Cases with other concurrent ocular surface diseases, conjunctivitides, systemic allergies, and those on systemic steroids, anti-histamines and tricyclic antidepressant agents were excluded. Signs of allergic conjunctivitis were graded via slit-lamp examination using a 5-5-5 exacerbation grading scale. Allergic conjunctivitis was classified as being severe if the total score was ≥230, moderate if the score was >20 and <230, and mild if the score was ≤20. Frequency distribution was reported for age, gender and result of skin prick test. Test of significance and correlation analysis was carried out between the result of skin prick test and the severity of allergic conjunctivitis using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20.0. A p-value of <0.05 was taken as significant.

Mean age was 18.62 (±8.15) years in 91 males and 59 females. Mild (n = 28), moderate (n = 77), and severe (n = 45) cases showed no statistically significant correlation with the skin prick test (positive or negative) in any of the three categories (mild p = 0.44, r = 0.153, moderate p = 0.89, r = 0.016, and severe p = 0.73, r = 0.052).

Skin prick test did not show a significant association or correlation with the severity of allergic conjunctivitis. Key Words: Allergic conjunctivitis, Hypersensitivity, Skin prick test.