Stratified analyses by age groups
We performed a sub-analysis using different age groups to assess the
performance of diagnostic tests per age. Table 6 shows more details. For
patients ≤ 2 years old sIgE to peanut was more specific (94%) than for
other age groups thus in toddlers a positive sIgE can help rule in
allergic disease. Ara h 2 was specific for all age groups but especially
for those ≥ 16 years old where a positive result can accurately rule in
allergy. sIgE to egg white was more specific in ≤ 2 years olds (95%)
compared to ≤ 16 years olds where it only had 81% specificity for the
diagnosis of raw HE allergy. For CMA, sIgE to CM and Casein had higher
specificity (≥ 90 %) in the ≤ 16 year olds compared to SPT.