What items do food allergy tests cost?

Routine examinations for food allergy are mainly divided into two categories: preliminary screening and confirmed diagnosis. The overall cost ranges from dozens of yuan to thousands of yuan. The specific amount is directly linked to the testing items you choose, the region you are located in, and the level of the hospital.

Last month, I accompanied my little niece who had recurrent urticaria to check for allergies. Initially, I did skin pricks and 10 common ingestible IgE tests at the community hospital. The cost was less than 350, and no clear trigger was found. Later, I went to Sanjia supplement and did 14 food-specific IgG and a separate mango challenge test. It cost more than 1,100 before and after, and it was finally determined that it was a chronic allergy to a specific protein in mango.

Skin pricking is the first choice for primary screening in many primary hospitals. It can be done in a few minutes without drawing blood. It involves dropping extracts of common foods such as milk, eggs, and seafood on the inside of the forearm, and gently rubbing the epidermis with a fine needle. The redness and swelling reaction can be seen in 15 minutes. It is very cost-effective to judge the degree of allergy. It only costs tens to early hundreds to check 10 common foods. The only thing to note is that antihistamines must be stopped 3 days before the test, otherwise the result may be false negative. My niece did not cry during the whole process and said it was much less painful than vaccination.

If the prick test results are ambiguous, or you are taking anti-allergy medicine and are unable to do the prick, doctors will generally prescribe a serum-specific IgE test. This is currently the most clinically recognized immediate allergy screening project. It checks for skin rash within a few hours of eating food. Allergy types with acute reactions such as rash, dyspnea, and vomiting cost about 30 to 40 yuan for a single food. If you choose a common 8-10 food item as a set meal, you can usually get it for 200 to 500 yuan. A tube of venous blood is enough, and there is no need to fast.

Many hospitals now recommend food-specific IgG testing. This industry is quite controversial. One group of doctors believes that it can detect chronic food intolerance, which is the kind of hidden reaction problems such as abdominal bloating, chronic eczema, and repeated diarrhea that occur after eating for several days. It is suitable for People who have been unable to find allergy triggers for a long time, but many experts believe that the correlation between the results of this test and actual allergies is not high. You cannot completely abstain from certain foods based on positive results alone. The price of this item is also higher. It usually costs 300 to 600 yuan to check about 10 items.

If the previous screening does not find a clear cause, or the results are suspected to be inaccurate, the doctor may recommend a food challenge test. This is the current gold standard for food allergy diagnosis. It means that under the full supervision of a doctor, start with a small dose of the food you are suspected of allergic to, and slowly increase the amount to observe the reaction. To avoid the risk of severe allergies, medical care is required and the price is more expensive. A single food costs about 200 to 400 yuan, and it is generally not used as a preliminary screening item.

Oh, by the way, there are quite a lot of price differences in different places. Prices in tertiary hospitals in first-tier cities are generally about 20% higher than in primary hospitals in second- and third-tier cities. If you check a full set of allergens including 20 or 30 rare food types, you can spend as much as 1,566. Yes, in fact it is completely unnecessary. When you go to see a doctor, you should first explain your attack patterns to the doctor, such as how long it takes for you to react after eating suspicious foods, and what foods you usually eat. The doctor will help you choose targeted items, which can save you a lot of money.