A Survey on Sensitivity and Specificity of Serum Total Ige and Nasal Eosinophil Count in Diagnosis of Allergic Rhinitis and the Relationship Between the Tests and Clinical Manifestation Severity



Berjis N¹ ; Zandieh F² ; Tabatabaei EA³ ; Akbari M³ Show Affiliations
Source: Journal of Isfahan Medical School Published:2011

Abstract

Background: Allergic rhinitis, one of the rhinitis syndromes, is associated with a symptom complex characterized by paroxysms of sneezing, rhinorrhea, nasal obstruction, and itching of the eyes, nose, and palate. Allergic rhinitis is associated with significant morbidity. Affected individuals have a quality of life significantly worse than otherwise healthy ones. The main goal of this study was to determine the sensitivity and the specificity of these tests and the relationship between clinical manifestation severity and the tests results. Methods: This cross-sectional study with forward direction was performed in allergy clinic of Alzahra hospital in Isfahan. The sampling was done in consecutive nonrandomized mode. The tool of gathering the data was a questionnaires asking about age, sex, family history, smoking, pet contact, allergic rhinitis type, severity and frequency of clinical presentation; also total serum IgE, nasal eosinophil count and Prick skin test results noted in questionnaires. The gathered data were analyzed by SPSS software. Finding: There were significant differences in patients Prick skin test results as the gold standard test depend on their family history and place of life; also total serum IgE titer and nasal eosinophil count in patients with positive skin test was significantly more than patients with negative skin test. For the other analyzed factors, there were no significant differences in patient Prick skin test result as the gold standard test. There was no significant relation between total serum IgE titer and clinical presentation severity and frequency; a same result was seen about nasal eosinophil count too. Based on Spearman's correlation coefficient test, there was no significant correlation between total serum IgE titer and nasal eosinophil count; however this correlation coefficient would be raised ever the clinical presentation severity raises. The calculated cut of point for total serum IgE titer in this study was 61 IU/mL with 75% specificity and 80% sensitivity. The calculated cut of point for nasal eosinophil percentage in this study was 5% with 100% specificity and 72.7% sensitivity. Conclusion: Noticing the obtained results, it seems the physicians should concern family history and place of life in history taking as an important clue to allergic rhinitis diagnosis. This study clarified that total serum IgE titer and nasal eosinophil count can be acceptable paraclinic tests to allergic rhinitis diagnosis; but they should not be used to determine or guess how much the disease severity is.