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Diagnosis: What is the value of skin-prick testing and other tests?
ARIA guidelines recommend allergy testing in the form of skin-prick testing or specific IgE for those with persistent or moderate severity disease. These tests can be used by specialised doctors and non-allergists as tests to assist in the diagnosis of allergic diseases. The clinical relevance of these tests has been extensively studied and it has been shown that their efficiency (specificity and sensitivity) in allergy diagnosis is often over 85% (1501). However, using these tests, the patient is defined only as allergic or non-allergic and more extensive investigations for rhinitis are needed if the test is positive. The utility of this in primary care requires evaluation in terms of assistance in diagnosis and treatment of allergic rhinitis in primary care.
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