Are allergy skin tests&blood tests accurate?
On One Hand: Accurate Allergy ResultsAccording to AllergyEscape.com, blood allergy tests check for 500 types of food and environmental allergies and are 97 percent accurate. Also, they are not influenced by antihistamines in the bloodstream, as is skin testing. Skin allergy testing has an increased accuracy rate when verifying allergies to a specific substance and airborne allergies.On the Other: Accuracy IssuesAntihistamines can cause a false negative if they are in the bloodstream during the skin testing process. Also, blood testing can yield a false positive result, meaning an individual can test positive for an allergy, but show no immune response when exposed to the allergen.Bottom LineNo method of testing is 100 percent accurate when determining allergies. However, tests can be used to confirm or dismiss the presence of specific reactions. While blood tests are extremely accurate, false positives can occur.
