Diagnostic study demonstrates high accuracy for a rapid dust mite allergen test in homes of allergic individuals, suggesting viable self-monitoring.
Key Points
To develop and validate a rapid, semi-quantitative colorimetric test kit for detecting house dust mite allergens to support patient self-assessment and environmental management.
Collected 80 dust samples from 59 homes of house dust mite-allergic patients in Guangzhou, China.
Evaluated a novel guanine-based colorimetric rapid test requiring 20 mg of dust and 5 minutes against gold-standard ELISA for Der 1 allergen quantification.
Determined sensitivity, specificity, correlation with ELISA, and inter-rater reliability between independent patient and researcher evaluations.
The rapid test correlated strongly with ELISA for total group 1 allergen concentrations (r = 0.83, P < 0.0001).
All samples exceeding 10 μg/g were identified, showing 100% sensitivity, 79.1% specificity, and moderate classification agreement with ELISA (weighted κ = 0.557).
Inter-rater agreement between patients and researchers was strong (weighted κ = 0.878).