Physician’s perspectives on skin prick testing and allergy diagnostics in Germany

Q3 Medicine

Allergo Journal International Pub Date : 2024-07-15 DOI:10.1007/s40629-024-00297-6

Ludger Klimek, Wolfgang Wehrmann, Randolf Brehler, Sven Becker, Mandy Cuevas, Moritz Gröger, Jan Hagemann, Ingrid Casper, Mathias Sulk, Senne Gorris, Sven F. Seys

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Novel technologies standardising the testing process of immediate hypersensitivities have been developed and validated in recent years. Meanwhile, challenges with regard to availability of testing agents and shortage of trained personnel have increased. Novel technologies could fight these challenges, but their distribution is at present not known. The current survey, conducted by the German Society for Allergology (AeDA), aimed to assess current practices of allergy diagnostics in Germany.

Members of AeDA were invited to complete an online questionnaire to obtain information on their perspectives on allergy testing and diagnostics.

A total of 150 allergologists from different disciplines treating patients with allergy completed the questionnaire. This survey revealed that twice as many skin prick tests (SPT; 21.2 tests/week) compared to serum specific immunoglobulin E tests (IgE; 10.4 tests/week) are being performed. Nasal allergen provocation tests are being performed in 56.0% of hospitals and physicians’ offices. An individual standard allergen panel for SPT is applied in 78.0% of testing cases. Methods used to perform a read out of SPT are variable with measurement of the longest wheal diameter being used most frequently (68.0%), followed by a qualitative evaluation (46.6%) or the longest wheal diameter including pseudopods (34.4%). In all, 66% of allergologists indicated that a device that automating the SPT process would be valuable for clinical practice.

Skin prick tests and serum IgE tests are still the cornerstones in the diagnostic work-up of immediate-type allergies. Variability in the execution of skin prick tests exists between different hospitals and physicians’ offices in Germany. Inconsistent availability of testing reagents was considered most problematic for maintaining allergy diagnostics in Germany. A majority of allergologists are open to evaluating tools that may contribute to standardize skin prick tests.

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德国医生对皮肤点刺试验和过敏诊断的看法

近年来，对即时过敏性测试过程进行标准化的新技术已得到开发和验证。与此同时，检测剂的供应和训练有素人员的短缺等挑战也在增加。新技术可以应对这些挑战，但其分布情况目前尚不清楚。本次调查由德国过敏学会（AeDA）进行，旨在评估德国目前的过敏诊断实践。AeDA 的会员受邀填写了一份在线问卷，以了解他们对过敏检测和诊断的看法。共有 150 名来自不同学科、治疗过敏患者的过敏学家填写了问卷。调查显示，与血清特异性免疫球蛋白E检测（IgE；10.4次/周）相比，皮肤点刺试验（SPT；21.2次/周）的次数是后者的两倍。56.0%的医院和医生办公室正在进行鼻过敏原激发试验。78.0%的检测病例采用了 SPT 的单个标准过敏原面板。SPT 的读出方法不尽相同，最常用的是测量最长的乳突直径（68.0%），其次是定性评估（46.6%）或包括假足在内的最长乳突直径（34.4%）。皮肤点刺试验和血清 IgE 试验仍然是诊断直接型过敏的基石。皮肤点刺试验和血清 IgE 试验仍然是诊断即刻型过敏症的基石。检测试剂供应不稳定被认为是德国过敏诊断工作面临的最大问题。大多数过敏学家对评估有助于规范皮肤点刺试验的工具持开放态度。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Allergo Journal International Medicine-Immunology and Allergy

CiteScore

4.60

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Allergo Journal International is the official Journal of the German Society for Applied Allergology (AeDA) and the Austrian Society for Allergology and Immunology (ÖGAI). The journal is a forum for the communication and exchange of ideas concerning the various aspects of allergy (including related fields such as clinical immunology and environmental medicine) and promotes German allergy research in an international context. The aim of Allergo Journal International is to provide state of the art information for all medical and scientific disciplines that deal with allergic, immunological and environmental diseases. Allergo Journal International publishes original articles, reviews, short communications, case reports, and letters to the editor. The articles cover topics such as allergic, immunological and environmental diseases, the latest developments in diagnosis and therapy as well as current research work concerning antigens and allergens and aspects related to occupational and environmental medicine. In addition, it publishes clinical guidelines and position papers approved by expert panels of the German, Austrian and Swiss Allergy Societies. All submissions are reviewed in single-blind fashion by at least two reviewers. Originally, the journal started as a German journal called Allergo Journal back in 1992. Throughout the years, English articles amounted to a considerable portion in Allergo Journal. This was one of the reasons to extract the scientific content and publish it in a separate journal. Hence, Allergo Journal International was born and now is the international continuation of the original German journal. Nowadays, all original content is published in Allergo Journal International first. Later, selected manuscripts will be translated and published in German and included in Allergo Journal.