Subjective oral symptoms are insufficient predictors of a positive oral food challenge

Liat Nachshon*, Oren Zipper, Michael B. Levy, Michael R. Goldberg, Naama Epstein-Rigby, Arnon Elizur

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Subjective oral symptoms, especially if recurrent, might lead to termination of an oral food challenge (OFC) for fear of a subsequent severe reaction. Methods: In a single-center retrospective cohort study, oral food challenges to milk, egg, peanut, sesame, or tree nuts performed between January 2016 and January 2018 in patients aged ≥3 years, at the Institute of Allergy, Immunology and Pediatric Pulmonology in Shamir Medical Center, were analyzed. Subjective oral symptoms during the challenge were documented, and their association with the challenge outcome was examined. Results: A total of 323 patients underwent 652 oral food challenges to the investigated foods (milk, 71; egg, 22; peanut, 48; sesame, 24; and tree nuts, 487). Subjective oral symptoms were experienced in 237 (36.3%) of all OFCs performed, and their rate was comparable across most foods tested. The rate of positive challenges was significantly higher when subjective oral symptoms were experienced during the challenge than when they were not (69.6% vs 30.4%, respectively, P <.001). However, the false-positive rate of such symptoms in predicting a positive food challenge was 30.3% for all foods; peanut, 40%; sesame, 27.3%; milk, 35.5%; egg, 33%; and tree nuts, 28.4%. Overall, subjective oral symptoms (SOS) provided sensitivity of 56.7, specificity 80.4, PPV 69.6, and NPV 69.0 for predicting OFC outcome. Importantly, reactions during positive challenges with and without subjective oral symptoms were comparable to severity. Conclusions: Continuing OFCs with subjective oral symptoms is recommended for it will prevent false-positive results in a third of cases without increasing patients' risk.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)342-348
Number of pages7
JournalPediatric Allergy and Immunology
Volume32
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2021

Funding

FundersFunder number
Ministry of Health, State of Israel

    Keywords

    • adverse reactions
    • eliciting dose
    • food allergy
    • mouth itchiness
    • oral food challenge
    • oral pruritus

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