Scientific Study

Background: Screening of high-risk infants for peanut allergy (PA) before introduction is now recommended in the United States, but the optimal approach is not clear.

Objective: We sought to compare the diagnostic test characteristics of peanut skin prick test (SPT), peanut-specific IgE (sIgE), and sIgE to peanut components in a screening population of infants before known peanut exposure.

Methods: Infants aged 4 to 11 months with (1) no history of peanut ingestion, testing, or reaction and (2) (a) moderate-severe eczema, (b) history of food allergy, and/or (c) first-degree relative with a history of PA received peanut SPT, peanut-sIgE and component-IgE testing, and, depending on SPT wheal size, oral food challenge or observed feeding. Receiver-operator characteristic areas under the curve (AUCs) were compared, and diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were calculated.

Results: A total of 321 subjects completed the enrollment visit (median age, 7.2 months; 58% males), and 37 (11%) were found to have PA. Overall, Ara h 2-sIgE at a cutoff point of 0.1 kUa/L discriminated between allergic and nonallergic best (AUC, 0.96; sensitivity, 94%; specificity, 98%), compared with peanut-sIgE at 0.1 kUa/L (AUC, 0.89; sensitivity, 100%; specificity, 78%) or 0.35 kUa/L (AUC, 0.91; sensitivity, 97%; specificity, 86%), or SPT at wheal size 3 mm (AUC, 0.90; sensitivity, 92%; specificity, 88%) or 8 mm (AUC, 0.87; sensitivity, 73%; specificity, 99%). Ara h 1-sIgE and Ara h 3-sIgE did not add to prediction of PA when included in a model with Ara h 2-sIgE, and Ara h 8-sIgE discriminated poorly (AUC, 0.51).

Conclusions: Measurement of only Ara h 2-sIgE should be considered if screening of high-risk infants is performed before peanut introduction.