EFFICACY OF PINE NUT-SPECIFIC IGE TESTING PRIOR TO ORAL FOOD CHALLENGE

Abstract

<h3>Introduction</h3> Allergy to nuts is a common, well documented condition in the pediatric population, however allergy to pine nuts specifically is a relatively rare phenomenon. The efficacy of pine nut-specific IgE testing prior to a pine nut oral food challenge (OFC) remains unclear and may represent an unnecessary step in clinical management. <h3>Methods</h3> Retrospective chart review was performed on fourteen patients with documented pine nut allergy who underwent pine-nut specific IgE testing prior to the pine nut OFC. The charts were reviewed for demographic data, pine nut specific IgE testing, total IgE testing, other food allergies, atopic conditions, and the pine nut OFC results. <h3>Results</h3> All fourteen patients were found to have a history of atopic conditions and other food allergies. Eleven of the patients had no known exposure to products containing pine nuts and the other three patients had unclear exposure history. Average total IgE=591.18 (SD:428.94, N:11) and pine nut-specific IgE=1.31 (SD:1.10, N:14). Twelve of the fourteen patients who ingested products containing pine nuts passed the pine nut OFC and introduced pine nut-containing products into their diet. Their average pine nut-specific IgE=1.10 (SD:1.06, N:12) while those who failed their pine nut OFCs had an average pine nut-specific IgE=2.36 (SD: 0.81, N:2). <h3>Conclusion</h3> This study suggests that there is no clinical correlation between pine-nut specific IgE level with passing or failing an OFC.