IgE antibody screening in children. Evaluation of the Phadiatop Paediatric.

With 200 sera from children, results of the Phadiatop Paediatric test were compared with results of the combination "Phadiatop + mixed-food-RAST". The Phadiatop Paediatric test was found to be efficient for IgE antibody screening in young children, when the results of this test were not solely given as "positive" or "negative", but also as "sample/reference-ratio". Clinical documentation could be obtained retrospectively for 171 children and revealed that 99% of the children with atopic disease were found positive in the Phadiatop Paediatric, 17% of the children who were considered non-atopic on clinical grounds, were positive both in the Phadiatop Paediatric and in the combination "Phadiatop + mixed-food-RAST". It is concluded that an atopic immune response is not always associated with current symptoms.