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Indian Pediatrics

, Volume 56, Issue 11, pp 951–957 | Cite as

Allergy Testing — An Overview

  • Neeraj GuptaEmail author
  • Poojan Agarwal
  • Anil Sachdev
  • Dhiren Gupta
Rational Diagnostics
First Online:

Abstract

Childhood allergies pose huge economic burden and adverse effects on quality of life. Serum IgE has been considered a surrogate allergy marker for decades. Availability of several over-the-counter allergy tests add to confusion of partially trained caregivers. The present review focuses on current status of allergy testing in Indian scenario. Various in-vitro and in-vivo diagnostic modalities are available for allergy detection. Skin prick tests are useful for aero-allergies whereas oral challenge tests are best for identifying suspected food allergies. An allergy test should be individualized based on clinical features, diagnostic efficacy, and cost-benefit analysis.

Keywords

Challenge test Histamine Hypersensitivity IgE Patch test Skin prick test 
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Notes

Funding: None; Competing interest: None stated.

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Copyright information

© Indian Academy of Pediatrics 2019

Authors and Affiliations

  • Neeraj Gupta
    • 1
    Email author
  • Poojan Agarwal
    • 2
  • Anil Sachdev
    • 1
  • Dhiren Gupta
    • 1
  1. 1.Division of Pediatric Emergency, Critical Care, Pulmonology and Allergic Disorders, Department of Pediatrics, Institute of Child HealthSir Ganga Ram HospitalRajinder Nagar, DelhiIndia
  2. 2.Department of PathologySir Ganga Ram HospitalRajinder Nagar, DelhiIndia

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