Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Food allergy blood tests in dogs often give different results between
By Hardy, Jonathan I et al.·Published in Veterinary dermatology·2014·Department of Clinical Science and Services and, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Food-specific serum IgE and IgG reactivity in dogs with and without skin disease: lack of correlation between laboratories.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with skin problems, including food allergies, were tested for specific food-related antibodies to see if the results were consistent between two different laboratories. The tests showed that there were significant differences in how the dogs reacted to certain foods, like lamb, but overall, the results varied widely between the labs. This means that the tests may not be reliable for diagnosing food allergies in dogs, as they didn't consistently identify differences between dogs with skin issues and healthy dogs. Pet owners should be cautious about relying on these tests for making treatment decisions.
People also search for: dog skin problems food allergies · dog allergy testing reliability · why is my dog itching after eating
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Despite conflicting data on their utility and no reports on interlaboratory reproducibility, serum food-specific antibodies are commonly assayed in first-opinion canine practice. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES: To determine both the variability of test results between two laboratories and the frequencies and magnitudes of food reactivity in dogs of different disease status. ANIMALS: Sera were obtained from eight dogs with cutaneous adverse food reaction (Group A), 22 with nonfood-induced atopic dermatitis (Group B), 30 with an allergic/inflammatory phenotype (Group C), 12 with miscellaneous skin diseases (Group D) and nine healthy dogs (Group E). METHODS: Paired sera were submitted to two laboratories (A and B) for assays of food-specific IgE and IgG antibodies. RESULTS: Numbers of positive IgE and IgG tests determined by each laboratory in Groups A, B, D and E were comparable (Group C not included). Significant differences in the magnitude of IgE reactivity between groups for each allergen were seen only for lamb (Laboratory A, P = 0.003); lamb reactivity in Group D exceeded Group E (P = 0.004) but was comparable between all other groups. Agreement (kappa statistic) between the two laboratories' tests was 'moderate' for one antigen (potato IgE), 'fair' for four (corn IgE, rice IgE and IgG and soya bean IgG), 'slight' for eight (six IgE and two IgG) and 'less than chance' for the remaining six antigens (three IgE and three IgG). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: These laboratories' tests appear to have dubious predictive clinical utility because they neither correlate nor distinguish between dogs of different disease status.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24890097/