Ra. Wood et al., A comparison of skin prick tests, intradermal skin tests, and RASTs in thediagnosis of cat allergy, J ALLERG CL, 103(5), 1999, pp. 773-779
Background: Skin testing and RASTs are the most commonly used methods for t
he diagnosis of allergy. Questions remain, however, as to the accuracy of t
hese tests, particularly with regard to the role of intradermal skin tests
(IDSTs) in the evaluation of respiratory allergy.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the predictive value
of skin prick tests (SPTs), IDSTs, and RASTs in the diagnosis of cat allerg
y.
Methods: Patients were challenged with a well-characterized cat exposure mo
del after evaluation by history, SPTs, IDSTs (if SPT results were negative)
, and RASTs. All patients were evaluated with respect to their upper respir
atory responses, although only those patients with asthma were included in
the analysis of lower airway responses, Challenge results were considered p
ositive if the mean upper respiratory symptom score was 0.5 or more, the me
an lower respiratory symptom score was 0.4 or more, or the maximum fall in
FEV1 value was 15% or more.
Results: One hundred twenty patients were evaluated. SPT values were positi
ve in 81 patients; of the remaining 39 patients, IDST values were positive
in 26 patients, RASTs were performed in 89 patients; the values were positi
ve in 45 of 51 patients with a positive SPT value and were negative in all
patients with a negative SPT value. When any positive challenge outcome was
considered, positive challenge results were seen in 38 of 41 patients with
a positive SPT score, in 10 of 39 patients with a negative SPT score, in 6
of 26 patients with a positive IDST score, in 4 of 13 patients with a nega
tive IDST score, in 27 of 27 patients with a positive RAST score, and in 12
of 44 patients with a negative RAST score.
Conclusion: Although both SPT and RAST values exhibited excellent efficienc
y in the diagnosis of cat allergy, IDST scores added little to the diagnost
ic evaluation.