Performance of a point of care allergy test compared to an established laboratory test for specific IgE in Japanese patients with allergic rhinitis.

Abstract

Background: Pollinosis is highly prevalent. Reliable specific IgE tests are needed to identify the causative aeroallergens. This study aims to evaluate the performance of DropScreen^TM (DS), a point of care test, by comparing it with that of ViewAllergy39^TM, a laboratory test (VA).

Methods: Sera from 70 Japanese outpatients with pollinosis (median age: 29.5 years; 35% were men) were used. Qualitative analysis and concordance rate assessment were performed. For allergens with discrepant results between DS and VA, inhibition tests were carried out on relevant samples and allergen component analysis for specific allergens was conducted.

Results: The average positivity rates for the 17 allergens included in the study were 20.8% and 26.6% for DS and VA, respectively. DS positive rate for Japanese cypress was 10-fold lower than that of VA. Clear discrepancies in detection rates between VA and DS were also shown for Japanese cedar, Moth, and A. fumigatus. Inhibition tests on discrepant sera confirmed that VA could accurately measure specific IgE toward these allergens.

Conclusion: DS and VA were not equally effective in reliably detecting specific IgE toward Japanese cypress. This study highlights the importance of understanding the impact of testing performance differences between assays on diagnostic workup and subsequent therapy selection.