Analysis of skin prickle test with standardized antigen and its relationship with degree of symptoms in patients with allergic rhinitis

Objective To investigate allergen spectrum of patients with allergic rhinitis(AR),and to analyze the relationship between skin prickle test(SPT)and degree of clinical symptoms.Methods A total of 1383 patients with allergic symptoms and signs underwent SPT with standardized antigens provided by ALK company,and the symptom was individually scored in patients with positive SPT.Results 898 of 1383(64.9%)cases showed positive results in SPT.The most common allergens found were mites including dermatophagoides pteronyssinus(90.4%),dermatophagoides farinae(87.2%)and tropical mite(71.8%),followed by blattella germanica(32.0%)and periplaneta Americana(27.3%).The positive rate of SPT in children was significantly higher than that in adults(P0.05).The positive rate of SPT in patients with family history was significantly higher than that without family history(P0.05).The difference of positive rate of SPT between urban(higher)and rural(lower)inhabitants was statistically insignificant(P0.05).The total mean score of typical symptoms of allergic rhinitis was 7.71±1.46.There was no correlation between the degree of positive SPT responses and the scores of symptoms.The correlation between the positive allergen number of SPT and the scores of symptoms was significant(P0.05).Conclusion Dust mites are the most common allergens in allergic rhinitis in Shenzhen district.The positive degree of SPT could not reflect the severity of symptoms,but the number of kinds of SPT positive allergen might be related to the severity of symptoms in allergic rhinitis.