Our allergists are board certified in pediatric and adult Allergy and Immunology, and have trained at some of the top training programs in the country, including Harvard Medical School, National Jewish Respiratory Center and Albert Einstein Medical College.  We participate in the Maintenance of Certification Program. Click here to read more about this program. Dr. Melamed and Liang have both been awarded the prestigious Top Doctor Awards for 2011.

Doctors shouldn’t rely on allergy tests alone

Diagnosing allergies in kids remains an inexact science, and blood tests that detect an immune response to a certain allergen are often an unreliable way to detect real allergies. That’s the finding of a report issued by an expert panel convened by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

In the statement published in the journal Pediatrics, the experts reviewed the latest research and found that pediatricians shouldn’t rely too heavily on the test results. Children who test positive for, say, a particular food may have a sensitivity to that food without actually developing full-blown symptoms like hives or swelling of the throat after they’ve eaten it.

“In fact, many children with positive tests have no clinical illness when exposed to the allergen,” write the study authors. They cited evidence from a federal nutrition survey that found some 8 percent of the participants tested positive for peanut allergy, but only 1 percent were actually clinically allergic. Other research suggests that half of those with peanut allergies test positive for allergies to other legumes, but only 5 percent actually have symptoms when they, say, eat beans or lentils.

“This limitation highlights the need for the clinician to use a detailed medical history and have knowledge of the features of the specific illness when selecting and interpreting tests.”

In other words, pediatricians shouldn’t just see a case of hives, run a few blood tests, and then purport to know exactly what triggered those hives. Often, the experts recommended, they need to refer patients on to “a consultation with a board-certified allergist-immunologist.” Besides taking a detailed medical history, these specialists may perform an allergen challenge to see if small doses of a particular food or other allergen will trigger an allergic reaction.

(written by Deborah Kotz, Boston Globe)

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