Diagnosing environmental allergies: Comparison of skin-prick, intradermal, and serum specific immunoglobulin E testing.

Background: Allergists commonly perform intradermal skin testing (IDST) after negative skin-prick testing (SPT) to comprehensively diagnose environmental allergic sensitization. However, with the availability of modern methods to detect serum-specific immunoglobulin E (ssIgE), it is unclear if ssIgE testing could substitute for IDST.

Objective: To determine the efficacy of ssIgE testing and IDST when added to SPT in diagnosing environmental allergic sensitizations.