Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2005 May;60(5):650-7.
doi: 10.1111/j.1398-9995.2004.00764.x.

Quantitative analysis of IgE antibodies to food and inhalant allergens in 4-year-old children reflects their likelihood of allergic disease

M Wickman  1 , G Lilja, L Söderström, M van Hage-Hamsten, S Ahlstedt
Affiliations

Quantitative analysis of IgE antibodies to food and inhalant allergens in 4-year-old children reflects their likelihood of allergic disease

M Wickman et al. Allergy. 2005 May.

Erratum in

  • Allergy. 2005 Nov;60(11):1458. van HageHamsten, M [corrected to van Hage-Hamsten, M]

Abstract

Background: It is well established that early diagnosis of allergic disease is warranted.

Methods: In a prospective birth cohort study (BAMSE) 3743 children at 4 years of age were included. Children were classified as having any allergic disease, e.g. asthma, suspected allergic rhinitis (suspAR), eczema or oro-gastro-intestinal symptoms with questionnaire. Blood was obtained from 2612 of these children and analysed for IgE antibodies (ab) towards 14 common food and airborne allergens.

Results: Positive IgE ab results were found in 38% of the children with any allergic disease, whereas such IgE ab results were found in 17% among those without any allergic disease. Furthermore, among children with any allergic disease the median summated IgE ab levels were 10.7 kU(A)/l compared with 1.5 kU(A)/l among those without such symptoms. The highest IgE ab levels were found to birch, peanut, cat and horse. When the sum of the IgE-ab levels towards the selected allergens was at least 34 kU(A)/l, or, alternatively, more than four allergen tests were positive, there was a 75% likelihood of identifying the individual with any allergic disease. To identify those with asthma, as well as those with suspAR, a significant interaction was found for the combination of the sum of IgE-ab levels and number of allergens positive at test. For eczema only, the number of positive allergens at test was associated to the likelihood of such disease.

Conclusions: In children, 4 years of age, allergic disease was frequently not associated with the presence of single positive IgE antibody results, whereas increased IgE ab levels were significantly more prevalent among those with allergic disease. Thus, testing a certain profile of airborne and food allergens, and utilizing the sum of the IgE-ab levels in combination with the number of allergens positive at tests, may represent a more efficient diagnostic tool then to use just single positive IgE-ab results.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources