SCREENING OF ATOPIC ALLERGY IN 5-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN - A COMPARISON OF THE DIAGNOSTIC PROPERTIES OF PHADIATOP-PEDIATRIC AND PHADIATOP

The ability of Phadiatop Paediatric (PP), Phadiatop (P), mixed-food RA ST (MF), and the combination of P and MF to identify children with ato pic allergy was evaluated among 193 children who had a family history of atopic disease, and who had an average age of 5 years. If atopy is defined as the presence of at least one positive skin prick test (grea ter than or equal to 2+) to common food and/or inhalant allergens, P h ad a sensitivity of 86%, a specificity of 94%, and an efficacy of 92%. These figures were somewhat better than the results with PP. However, when P was combined with MF, the sensitivity increased to 89%, but at the expense of lowered specificity (83%) and efficacy (84%). If the t ests were related only to clinical signs/symptoms of atopic disease, t he sensitivity and efficacy were, at maximum, 63% and 81%, respectivel y. There was a discrepancy between the results of P and PP in 9% of th e children. One explanation of this discrepancy may be that PP seems t o be incapable of detecting children with respiratory allergies induce d by pollens from birch and related trees. The results indicate that i n 5-6-year-old children P should be preferred to PP and to the combina tion of P and MF for atopy screening, at least in places where birch p ollen is a common allergen.