Labcorp can help physicians identify regional allergy symptoms and diagnose allergen sensitivities in pediatric patients.

Sneezing, runny nose, congestion, itchy, watery eyes. It must be allergies, right?

There are two types of rhinitis: allergic and non-allergic.  Up 87 percent of patients with allergic rhinitis have non-allergic rhinitis,5 and the treatment that works well for one type of rhinitis may be less effective for the other.15  Allergen-specific IgE testing may be helpful in confirming suspected symptom triggers or assessing ambiguous or complicated cases.

Labcorp Regional Respiratory Profiles

The allergens a person is exposed to can vary from one region of the country to another. That is why Labcorp offers regional respiratory profiles that includes allergens specific to different areas of the United States.

There are 20 different regional allergy profiles from which to choose, including specific geographic regions within numerous states. Labcorp testing utilizes Thermo Fisher ImmunoCAP® to analyze the most common allergic rhinitis triggers including pollens, mold, dust mites, furry animals and insect emanations.

The September Asthma Epidemic: How to Prevent Fall Asthma Episodes (Contemporary Pediatrics Journal Supplement)

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Pediatric Allergy Services

Since the late 1990s, food allergy has become more common among children in the U.S.1 Children with a food allergy are also prone to developing other conditions such as asthma, eczema and respiratory allergies. 1 Collectively, these points make the diagnosis of food allergy an important concern in pediatric health today.

Labcorp’s quantitative allergen-specific IgE testing can be useful in assessing the potential that an atopic disposition might play in fostering chronic sinusitis or dermatitis and potentially asthma, thereby allowing the clinician to develop an optimal therapeutic approach at an early age.

Suspect Food Allergy?

When confronted with a suspected food allergy in a pediatric patient, there are several important considerations:

  • Adverse food reactions may be broadly grouped into immune mediated and non-immune mediated symptoms.2,4 
  • Symptoms overlap among conditions within these two groups. Symptoms may include skin rash, nausea, and vomiting, and may confound an empiric diagnosis.4 
  • Food allergy symptoms are most common in children.1 
  • Food allergy is more common in individuals with other atopic diseases such as asthma.3,4

The “allergy march”

Clinical studies have shown that young children who develop atopic dermatitis12,13 or allergic rhinitis12,14,15 have an increased tendency to develop asthma as they grow older.  The progressive development of increasingly debilitating disease as an atopic child grows into adulthood has been referred to by some researchers as the “allergy march.”13,14,15 

Learn more about Labcorp Pediatric Allergy services

Allergy Component Testing

Allergen component testing employs purified or recombinant allergens rather than allergen extracts. As a result, it can identify cross-reactive and specles-specific components. It can also differentiate components associated with mild/local reactions and those associated with severe/systemic reactions. Since most allergic individuals are sensitized to more than one allergen, component testing results may be particularly important in developing management strategies for these cases.5,7

Allergen component testing also adds the following to consider which may be important in respiratory symptom management.

  • Risk for and severity of respiratory diseases increases with the number of furry allergen components to which the patient is sensitized.7,8,9
  • Sensitization to multiple components is associated with increased bronchial inflammation in severe asthmatics.9
  • Studies have shown cat allergen component test results appear to be better than traditional cat dander extract test results as an indicator of airway inflammation and responsiveness. They also appear to be a better prognosticator for asthma, and rhinitis development over a 12-year period.9
See our Allergy Test Menu
  1. Branum AM and Lukacs SL. Food Allergy Among US Children: Trends in Prevalence and Hospitalizations. NCHS Data Brief No. 10. October 2008.
  2. Sicherer SA. Food allergy. Lancet 2002;360:701-710.
  3. Sampson HA, Aceves S, Bock SA et al. Food allergy: A practice parameter update – 2014. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2014 pg 1-10e43.
  4. Boyce JA, Assa’ad A, Burks WA et al. Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Food Allergy in the United States: report of the NIAID-sponsored expert panel. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2010;126(6):S1-S53.
  5. . Ahlstedt S, Murray CS. In vitro diagnosis of allergy: how to interpret IgE antibody results in clinical practice. Primary Care Respir J. 2006;15:228-236.
  6. Wallace DV and Dykewicz, eds. The diagnosis and management of rhinitis: an updated practice parameter. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2008;122:S1-84. 
  7. Nordlund B, Konradsen JR, Kull I et al. IgE antibodies to animal-derived lipocalin, kallikrein and secretoglobin are markers of bronchial inflammation in severe childhood asthma. Allergy 2012; 661-669.
  8. Davila I, Dominguez-Ortega J, Navarro-Pulido A, at al. Consensus document on dog and cat allergy. Allergy 2018; 1-17.
  9. Patelis A, Gunnbjornsdottir M, Alving K et al. Allergen extract vs. component sensitization and airway inflammation, responsiveness and new-onset respiratory disease. Clinical & Experimental Allergy 2015(46); 730-740.
  10. Perzanowski MS, Ronmark E, James HR et al. Relevance of specific IgE antibody titer to the prevalence, severity, and persistence of asthma among 19-year-olds in northern Sweden. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2016(138)6: 1582-1590.
  11. Bjerg A, Winberg A, Berthold M et al. A population-based study of animal component sensitization, asthma, and rhinitis in school children. Pediatr Allergy Innumol 2015(26): 557-563.
  12. American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. The Allergy Report. Milwaukee, WI: AAAI; 2000.
  13. Allergic factors associated with the development of asthma and the influence of cetirizine in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial: First results of ETAC. Early Treatment of the Atopic Child. Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 1998 Aug;9(3): 116-124
  14. Bousquest J, Van Cauwenberge P, Khaltaev N. World Health Organization. Allergic Rhinitis and its impact on asthma. ARIA Workshop Report. In collaboration with the World Health Organization. 7-10 December 199, Geneva, Switzerland. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2001:108(5Suppl):S147-334. 
  15. Zheng T, Yu J, Oh MH, Zhu Z. The Atopic march: Progressions from Atopic Dermatitis to Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma.  Allergy Asthma Immunol Res. 2011 April;3(2):67-73.