Objectives:

The correlation of clinical data with laboratory tests is important in diagnosing atopic diseases. This study was planned to investigate the correlation of environmental allergen specific IgE levels and skin test methods in diagnosing atopic diseases.

Methods:

The study comprised 172 patients who had undergone immunotherapy for allergic diseases between November 2005 and July 2008, and had been evaluated with serum specific IgE levels and skin prick tests.

Results:

The male/female ratio was 1.6, with a mean age of 12.5±3.6 years (range 5-20 years), and mean age of onset of allergy symptoms at 6.9±3.5 years (range 0-16 years). The sp IgE of 96.3% of the patients was positive. No significant link was found between the age of onset and the existence of atopy in the family (p=0.258), nor the subject gender (p=0.941). Except for molds, all allergens had significant correlations between their serum sp IgE levels and skin test positivities. As the age of onset increases, grass pollens (p=0,000) and cereals pollens (p=0,000) skin test positivities were found to increase, in contrast to the decrease of d1-d2 serum sp IgE levels and skin test positivities. In the patients without any atopy case in the family, serum d1 and d2 sp IgE levels and d1 skin test positivity were found to be higher (p<0.05).

Conclusion:

Serum environmental allergen-specific IgE levels, is an important diagnosis method, which correlates with the other laboratory tests and clinical data, for diagnosing atopic disorders in childhood.

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