Is Allergy Testing Cost Effective ?

Medical opinions are divided between the ‘testers’ who investigate before therapy is instituted and’ treaters’ who do not investigate to save costs. The ‘treaters’ have suggested that allergy testing is not always necessary in patients with allergy symptoms and prefer to treat with pharmacotherapy without identification of specific triggers. An example of this is a recent editorial in this journal in which Lalloo expressed the view that specific IgE testing is overused and most diagnoses and therapeutic decisions are not influenced by this test. The controversy is whether specific allergy testing is an essential diagnostic resource or an unnecessary expense.