The Evaluation of Skin Prick and Atopic Patch Tests with Food and Aeroallergens in Children with Atopic Dermatitis

Abstract

Atopic dermatitis (AD) affects children with a wide degree of severity. Allergen exposure plays an important role in AD. Immunologic mechanisms in etiology of AD show significant differences from other allergic diseases. We evaluated the skin prick (SPT) and atopy patch test (APT) positivity rates with food-aeroallergens and studied the effect of test results on the clinical characteristics of children with AD. Forty-five children aged 2-15 years with AD were included the study between May 2006-2007 in GATA Haydarpasa Teaching Hospital, Allergy Department. The reactivity to inhalant and food allergens using SPT and APT were evaluated. The severity of AD which was assessed with SCORAD, was compared with aeroallergen and food hypersensitivity. SPT were positive in 68.9% of patients with aeroallergens and 32.5% of patients with food. The APT was positive in 56.8% of patients with food allergens and 47.7% of patients with HDM. Among food, there is only statistical relationship between SPT and APT positivity with wheat flour. There was correlation between only strong(+) reactions to SPT and APT with HDM. There were no effect of food hypersensitivity on the parameters defining disease severity, only the subjective symptoms and SCORAD were significantly higher among the patients with strong SPT(+) reactions to HDM antigens. The statistical significance were only shown between the extent of the disease and strong APT(+) reactions to Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus. It was observed that mainly HDM hypersensitivity was related with disease severity. The statistical significance between APT with food and APT with HDM was considered to be nonspecific reaction of food.