Positive reactions in Atopy patch test in children with food allergy-related gastrointestinal symptoms

The prevalence of food allergy seems to be increasing, which might explain the increased demand for reliable evaluation of patients with suspected food-related gastrointestinal symptoms. Little is known about the diagnostic accuracy of atopy patch tests(APT) in the clinical practice. APT seems to have a better specificity than the IgE methods and seems to reflect late-phase clinical reactions.The aims of this study were to evaluate:

(i) The prevalence of positive reaction of APTs for food allergy-related gastrointestinal diseases. (ii)Positive reaction of APT compare with skin prick test. (iii)Positive reaction of APT using lyophilized food vs commercially available food extracts. (iv)Side effect or adverse events of APT

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients who had history of suspected food allergy-related gastrointestinal symptoms eg. nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain or hematochezia after ingesting some food.
• Age 1 month-18 yrs
• Elimination diet was done at least 7 days before starting the study
• Written informed consent was obtained from the parents of each child enrolled in the study

Exclusion Criteria:

• Who have dermographism
• Who have chronic disease eg. autoimmune disease, immune deficiency, cancer or allergic disease
• Pregnant women
• Who have severe eczema
• Who receive antihistamine, topical steroid and systemic steroid > 20 mg/day withiin 7 days prior study