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Agreement between radioallergosorbent test and skin test
Annals of Allergy
|November 1, 1977
Summary
This study compared RAST tests with skin tests for allergies. RAST showed good agreement with prick tests but poor agreement with intracutaneous tests for environmental allergens.
Area of Science:
- Allergy diagnostics
- Immunology
- Clinical immunology
Background:
- Skin prick tests (SPT) and intradermal tests (IDT) are standard allergy diagnostic methods.
- Radioallergosorbent test (RAST) is an in vitro method for detecting specific IgE antibodies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the diagnostic accuracy of RAST with SPT and IDT.
- To evaluate the agreement between RAST and skin tests for various environmental allergens.
Main Methods:
- A total of 4,260 RAST results were compared with 4,260 prick and intracutaneous skin test results.
- Intracutaneous tests were performed only when prick tests yielded negative results.
Main Results:
- Mean agreement between positive RAST and positive prick tests was high for grasses (81.3%) but moderate for weeds (45.1%), trees (42.2%), molds (42.6%), and environmental antigens (45.8%).
- Mean agreement between positive RAST and positive intracutaneous tests was very low, ranging from 0% to 4.9% for all tested antigens.
Conclusions:
- RAST demonstrates substantial agreement with prick tests for allergen-specific IgE detection.
- RAST shows poor agreement with intracutaneous tests, suggesting limited utility when prick tests are negative.