Total serum IgE, allergy skin testing, and the radioallergosorbent test for the diagnosis of allergy in asthmatic children.

Correlations of total serum IgE, skin test reactivity, and specific IgE antibodies to selected antigens were evaluated in asthmatic children. There was a significant difference in mean IgE level of each positive RAST score group compared with that of the RAST-negative score for dog epithelium, Candida, ragweed, and Bermuda grass allergen. The correlation coefficient between the total IgE and the RAST to D. farinae was 0.39 (P less than .05). There was no significant correlation between the total IgE and the RAST to D. pteronyssinus, Candida, dog epithelium, ragweed, Eucalyptus pollen, and Bermuda grass (P greater than .05). This indicates a low total serum IgE concentration does not exclude the possibility of significant elevation of specific IgE to a common allergen. Concordance for results of intradermal skin testing and RAST was high for most allergens. Lower efficiency for dog allergen and Candida suggests greater sensitivity of allergy skin testing for these allergens.