Abstract
BACKGROUND: Skin prick test (SPT) is the most common diagnostic procedure that is performed considering the history of aeroallergen sensitivity among patients. Moreover, it is important to identify the diagnostic and therapeutic benefits of allergen's number in skin prick testing in both adults and children. OBJECTIVE: The present study aims to detect the minimum number of allergens used in SPT to identify 95% of sensitized patients in both pediatric and adult age groups in Jordan. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Retrospective analysis of a 20 allergen extracts SPT results for 2253 patients (aged 8 and above) was conducted to assess the minimum number of allergen extracts needed to identify 95% of the sensitized patients in both adults and children. RESULTS: The results showed that 50.9% of the pediatric group was sensitized to at least one aeroallergen extract in comparison to 48.3% of the adult group. Only 8 allergen extracts were necessary to identify 95% of the sensitized patients which are olive pollen, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, Salsola kali, 4 cereals, Wall pellitory, Dermatophagoides farinae, Cypress and mugwort. Same number was needed in children but with the replacement of mugwort with alternaria to achieve a similar result. CONCLUSION: The study concluded that only 8 allergen extracts were needed for detecting 95% of sensitized patients (both pediatrics and adults) in SPT. The authors proposed a two-stage screening: stage 1 includes the minimum number of allergen extracts to detect 95% of sensitized patients and stage 2 for the patients who tested negative in stage 1 which will include a broader allergen extracts panel excluding those which were already tested in stage 1.