Allergic sensitization in nasobronchial allergy patients and its correlation with total immunoglobulin E level

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Bronchial asthma (BA) and allergic rhinitis (AR) are immunoglobulin (Ig) E-mediated hypersensitivity phenomena. The objective of the study is to assess the association between total serum IgE level and skin prick test (SPT) in Indian patients who presented with different nasobronchial allergy symptoms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was an observational prospective study conducted in the Allergy and Asthma Clinic, Motihari, Bihar. A total of 183 patients diagnosed as BA and AR undergo SPT against different allergens between January 2017 and July 2018. Serum total IgE was measured in all patients. All statistical analyses were performed using statistical software SPSS version 20 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The study patients included 95 males and 88 females (total 183) with a mean age of 27.15 ± 12.64 years. SPT was positive in 99 out of 183 (54.09%) study patients. BA and AR were associated with skin sensitization in 30.60% and 15.30% of patients, respectively, while 54.09% of patients were associated with both AR and asthma. Forty-four out of 99 (44.44%) patients were sensitized to single allergen, while 40.40% and 15.15% of patients were sensitized to 2–5 allergens and >5 allergens, respectively. Except 11 patients, all the study patients had high total IgE level (>150 IU/ml). More than half of the study patients (51.36%) were associated with more than 1000 serum total IgE level. Total IgE level was not affected with the number of allergen sensitization. SPT-positive patients had higher IgE value than SPT-negative patients but statistically not significant (P > 0.05), and there was also poor correlation between SPT result and serum total IgE level (r = 0.102). CONCLUSION: SPT should be performed in all clinical allergic patients irrespective of serum total IgE level.