Clinical history, skin prick test and RAST in the diagnosis of birch and timothy pollinosis.

The diagnostic efficacy of clinical history (CH), skin prick test (SPT) and RAST was estimated in relation to nasal and conjunctival provocation tests (NPT, CPT) in 69 patients with seasonal rhinoconjunctivitis. The extracts used were freeze-dried, and biologically standardized birch and timothy allergen preparations matched to the extracts on Phadebas RAST discs. Based on single determinations the sensitivity, specificity and predictive values were calculated. There were highly significant (P less than 0.001) correlations between all parameters: NPT, CPT, CH, SPT and RAST. For birch the combination of SPT and RAST made the PTs superfluous as both sensitivity and specificity then reached 100%. With timothy the sensitivity was 97% and with the addition of CH 100%. However, the specificity was only 79% through combining CH, SPT and RAST. The present study using the same standardized allergen preparation in all tests showed a good correlation between indirect test results and provocation tests.