This is science-y stuff, so I'm not even going to attempt to summarize or paraphrase. I'm just typing in excerpts of what they mailed us now:
Interpretation of Blood Test Results
...The purpose of this testing is for an epidemiologic study and not for diagnosis.
IgE is the antibody that causes immediate hypersensitivity to proteins, such as foods or airborne allergens. The total IgE value is a general indicator of how "allergic" a patient is. For example, patients with hay fever (allergic rhinitis) or eczema (atopic dermatitis) may have an elevated IgE level. For total IgE, the lower limit of detection is 2.0kU/L and the upper limit is 5000 kU/L.
The blood tests called "CAP-RASTs" determine the quantity of IgE to a specific allergen. For specific IgE, the lower limit of detection is 0.1 kUA/L., and the upper limit is 100 kUA/L.. Values outside this range will be noted as "<0.1>100 kUA/L." Please note that CAP-RASTs, especially to foods, can be falsely positive. The main limitation of these tests is that a positive result does NOT necessarily mean that the food will trigger symptoms...
POSITIVE BLOOD TEST ALONE DOES NOT EQUAL DIAGNOSIS OF ALLERGY
Sometimes, CAP-RASTs can also lead to false-negative results (although a negative test result generally rules out an allergy)...
In addition, the blood test results do not reflect the severity of an allergy. A higher value does not mean that a reaction will be more severe. Rather, the value reflects the probability that you or your child may be allergic to that particular allergen: the higher the value, the more likely that the result is a true positive....
IgE is the antibody that causes immediate hypersensitivity to proteins, such as foods or airborne allergens. The total IgE value is a general indicator of how "allergic" a patient is. For example, patients with hay fever (allergic rhinitis) or eczema (atopic dermatitis) may have an elevated IgE level. For total IgE, the lower limit of detection is 2.0kU/L and the upper limit is 5000 kU/L.
The blood tests called "CAP-RASTs" determine the quantity of IgE to a specific allergen. For specific IgE, the lower limit of detection is 0.1 kUA/L., and the upper limit is 100 kUA/L.. Values outside this range will be noted as "<0.1>100 kUA/L." Please note that CAP-RASTs, especially to foods, can be falsely positive. The main limitation of these tests is that a positive result does NOT necessarily mean that the food will trigger symptoms...
POSITIVE BLOOD TEST ALONE DOES NOT EQUAL DIAGNOSIS OF ALLERGY
Sometimes, CAP-RASTs can also lead to false-negative results (although a negative test result generally rules out an allergy)...
In addition, the blood test results do not reflect the severity of an allergy. A higher value does not mean that a reaction will be more severe. Rather, the value reflects the probability that you or your child may be allergic to that particular allergen: the higher the value, the more likely that the result is a true positive....
Mother | Father | Daughter | |
Allergen tested | Value (kU/L) | Value (kU/L) | Value (kU/L) |
Alternaria (mold) | <0.1 | 1.300 | <0.1 |
Cat Dander | <0.1 | <0.1 | 0.417 |
Cockroach | 0.143 | <0.1 | 0.102 |
Codfish | <0.1 | <0.1 | 20.871 |
Dog Dander | <0.1 | <0.1 | 0.110 |
Dust Mite 1 (Df) | <0.1 | 1.397 | <0.1 |
Dust Mite 2 (Dp) | <0.1 | 0.872 | <0.1 |
Egg White | <0.1 | <0.1 | 0.887 |
Milk, Cow | <0.1 | <0.1 | 0.672 |
Peanut | <0.1 | <0.1 | 4.182 |
Sesame | <0.1 | <0.1 | 6.615 |
Shrimp | 0.236 | <0.1 | <0.1 |
Soy | <0.1 | <0.1 | 1.148 |
Total IgE | 16.151 | 23.727 | 108.137 |
Walnut | <0.1 | <0.1 | 6.049 |
Wheat | <0.1 | <0.1 | 4.020 |
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Okay - me here again. So, my thoughts on what we can take away from any of this:
--One more thing to keep in mind when looking at these results - you can't compare CAP-RAST scores for different allergens and infer that equivalent scores mean equivalent likelihood of being allergic (i.e., true positives). In other words, a 4.0 on peanut may not mean the same thing as a 4.0 on wheat.
--Obviously, we'll have to wait to get in to see the doc this fall for further testing and discussion, but Georgia's egg test result confirms my suspicion that she may have outgrown this allergy. I don't really know how to judge it, but that number looks low to me! I believe it's lower than her score from 2008, which is great news.
--Definitely true what they say about false positives, because I eat shrimp with no problems, and Georgia consumes milk, wheat and soy with no problems as far as we can tell.
--Based on what little I know of Peanut CAP-RAST scores, I am pleased with Georgia's score on that one. It's definitely well below the 95% certainty threshhold. It may indicate that even if she's allergic now that she's among the 20% of people who have a decent chance of outgrowing a peanut allergy.
--Bummer about the codfish score for Georgia. Her reactions to fish started around February or March, which was so weird, because she had been eating salmon with no problem and loving it for about 6 months prior to that. I wonder if or when we can find out which fish she's allergic to? We'll have to ask the doctor about that. I hope she doesn't have to avoid ALL fish forever.
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