Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• De Haro Romero, T
• Aldana, C
• González Cejudo, T
• de Haro Muñoz, T

Titel

B-102 Screening Food Allergies in Our Health Primary Care Area

Ist Teil von

• Clinical chemistry (Baltimore, Md.), 2023-09, Vol.69 (Supplement_1)

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Oxford Journals 2020 Medicine

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Abstract Background Allergy is the immunological disease with the greatest impact in the world. Food allergy typically manifests with cutaneous, digestive and/or respiratory symptoms, of immediate onset, usually immunoglobulin E-mediated. Doctors from primary health-care providers are often challenged with these patients, becoming the first-line for the recognition and management of food allergies. As a laboratory, our duty is to provide the health care system with the most effective diagnostic tools. Methods We recollected all the results from Primary care of our health area analyzed in our laboratory for one year. Screening assay included a panel of specific IgE antibodies to the most common food allergens: egg yolk, egg white, milk, cod, wheat, peanut and soybean. They were detected semi-quantitatively by enzyme-labeled chemiluminescent immunoassay using the Immulite Allergy Food Panel FP5 kit (Siemens Diagnostic Products Corporation, Los Angeles, USA), according to the test procedure. If the assay was positive, all specific IgE allergens contained in the mixture were analyzed separately to determine their responsibility for the positive screening test. Results Our laboratory processed 24 125 samples from primary care patients. Of these, 1251 were positive (greater than 0.35 Ku/L), which represented 5.19% positive of the total analyzed. Once all the specific IgE allergens contained in the mixture were analyzed, the results were: 608 positive for egg yolk, 753 positive for egg white, 523 positive for milk, 109 positive for cod, 405 positive for wheat, 597 positive for peanut and 480 positive for soybean. Conclusion As with most medical disorders, a thorough medical history is the initial step in diagnosing adverse food reactions. The medical history is extremely useful, especially in acute reactions, but it can be unreliable in chronic disorders such as atopic dermatitis and asthma. In vitro assays help in the diagnosis, but they must be considered as a screening and no diagnosis tool, especially when no symptoms are associated with the positive food allergen result. That’s why in vitro results must be confirmed by prick test, which is considered gold standard for allergy diagnosis. In our study, egg white is the most prevalent allergen detected (60.19%), followed in order by egg yolk (48.60%), peanut (47.72%), milk (41.81%), soybean (38.37%), wheat (32.37%) and being cod the least allergen detected (8.71%).