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ABSTRACT
Context Chronically ill patients who have failed standard medical assessment and therapies are often assessed by integrative medical providers for atypical manifestations of allergies as the possible source or contributing factor(s) to their condition. Skin testing and immunoglobulin E (IgE) allergy panels increase the cost of care in these patients.
Objective The objective of this study was to determine the accuracy of autonomic response testing (ART) as compared with IgE allergy panel blood tests.
Design This study was a retrospective chart review of patients who had ART and blood drawn for an IgE allergy panel at the same office visit.
Outcome Measures Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, overall accuracy, phi coefficient, and Cohen's kappa were calculated.
Results A total of 14 charts were reviewed. All measures of accuracy were of either useful or excellent strength. The strength of association measures of the phi coefficient and Cohen's kappa were strong.
Conclusion This first and preliminary evaluation of the allergy assessment utility of ART is very promising and reveals the need for more vigorous follow-up studies. (Altern Ther Health Med. 2018;24(2):10-14.)
An accurate low-tech in-office assessment of the presence of allergies can benefit patients in their care and reduce the cost of health care. Skin testing is considered the gold standard. Blood tests are used in cases of possible medication interference of test results, very sensitive skin, serious skin conditions, and previous reaction to an allergen suggesting a high sensitivity.1 Both skin testing with concomitant specialist consultation and blood tests increase the cost of care. The authors' objective was to explore the accuracy of an in-office assessment method termed autonomic response testing (ART) compared with immunoglobulin E (IgE) blood tests. A literature search of PubMed (which includes MEDLINE), CINAHL, AMED, and EMBASE revealed no prior evaluation of ART compared with IgE allergy blood testing. In 1999, Schmitt and Leisman2 studied the Goodheart version of applied kinesiology with application to identification of food allergies. However, no studies of the ART version of applied kinesiology to allergy identification have been reported until now.
Allergy Testing in the Context of Integrative Medicine
Patients often present to integrative medicine practices with chronic conditions that have been refractory to standard medical therapy. A number of integrative medicine...