Utility of Serum Environmental Allergen Testing in Patients with Moderate to Severe Persistent Asthma

Abstract

Environmental allergens are known to contribute to poor asthma control. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the utility of serum environmental allergen testing in a cohort of patients with asthma to determine whether they enacted changes in their environment to avoid allergen triggers. METHODS: A sample of 99 children aged 4-17 with moderate-to-severe persistent asthma were offered free allergen testing as part of a clinical trial and agreed to participate in a follow-up survey on their test results. Univariate statistics were used to describe sample characteristics and survey responses. Chi-squares were used to test associations between categorical variables. RESULTS: The majority were male (67.7%) between 4-11 years old (82.8%). Racial distribution was even and over half (55.6%) had public insurance. The most common allergens were dog (49%) and cat (46.4%). The majority of the participants found allergen testing useful (94.4%). As a result, 26.8% began to actively avoid the child's indoor allergens, 18.3% began to avoid outdoor allergens, and 38.1% started their child an allergy medication regimen. Over a quarter of participants (25.4%) reported that awareness of the child's allergies to animals and insects was most useful. The most common changes made after learning of positive allergen test results were removing rugs (18.3%) and staying indoors due to high pollen (12.6%). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest environmental allergen testing is beneficial in children with asthma which can lead to positive behavior changes to avoid allergen triggers. Future research is needed to evaluate the impact of allergen avoidance on asthma outcomes.