Is there any correlation between the results of skin-prick test and the severity of symptoms in allergic rhinitis?

BACKGROUND

This study was designed to determine whether there is any correlation between results of the skin-prick test and the severity of symptoms in allergic rhinitis.

METHODS

We retrospectively evaluated 150 patients with persistent or intermittent allergic rhinitis confirmed by positive skin tests and scaled from 1 to 4 according to the size of the wheal. The symptoms including sneezing, nasal obstruction, rhinorrhea, and nasal itching were ranked according to their severity (0 for no symptoms, 1 for mild, 2 for moderate, and 3 for severe). We investigated the correlation between the skin tests' positivity and symptoms score, rhinoconjunctivitis quality-of-life questionnaire (RQLQ), and visual analog scale (VAS) scores.

RESULTS

Of the 150 patients, 98 had persistent and 52 had intermittent allergic rhinitis. Some patients had multiple allergen sensitivity. Each skin test group was compared with respect to symptom scores, RQLQ, or VAS scores. There was no statistically significant correlation between the size of the wheal and symptoms score, RQLQ, or VAS scores. There was also no correlation between the type of allergen and symptoms score.

CONCLUSION

The skin-prick test can be applied to support the diagnosis of allergic rhinitis, but one can not predict the severity of illness by stratifying the size of the skin-prick test result.