Physician’s perspectives on skin prick testing and allergy diagnostics in Germany

Abstract

Summary Purpose Novel technologies standardising the testing process of immediate hypersensitivities have been developed and validated in recent years. Meanwhile, challenges with regard to availability of testing agents and shortage of trained personnel have increased. Novel technologies could fight these challenges, but their distribution is at present not known. The current survey, conducted by the German Society for Allergology (AeDA), aimed to assess current practices of allergy diagnostics in Germany. Methods Members of AeDA were invited to complete an online questionnaire to obtain information on their perspectives on allergy testing and diagnostics. Results A total of 150 allergologists from different disciplines treating patients with allergy completed the questionnaire. This survey revealed that twice as many skin prick tests (SPT; 21.2 tests/week) compared to serum specific immunoglobulin E tests (IgE; 10.4 tests/week) are being performed. Nasal allergen provocation tests are being performed in 56.0% of hospitals and physicians’ offices. An individual standard allergen panel for SPT is applied in 78.0% of testing cases. Methods used to perform a read out of SPT are variable with measurement of the longest wheal diameter being used most frequently (68.0%), followed by a qualitative evaluation (46.6%) or the longest wheal diameter including pseudopods (34.4%). In all, 66% of allergologists indicated that a device that automating the SPT process would be valuable for clinical practice. Conclusion Skin prick tests and serum IgE tests are still the cornerstones in the diagnostic work-up of immediate-type allergies. Variability in the execution of skin prick tests exists between different hospitals and physicians’ offices in Germany. Inconsistent availability of testing reagents was considered most problematic for maintaining allergy diagnostics in Germany. A majority of allergologists are open to evaluating tools that may contribute to standardize skin prick tests.