Would you do any further tests?

The Opinion of this website

Serial peak flow records have high sensitivity and specificity for diagnosising occupational asthma (70% / 94%) and are a good first line of investigation. Specific IgE is sensitive but not specific and is only available for certain sensitisers. Methacholine / histamine challenge at and away from work has low sensitivity but high sensitivity (40% / ~100%). Specific Bronchial Challenge is the gold standard test but is expensive and time consuming. We would initially reccommend serial peak flow records and specific IgE (if available). This could be followed by methacholine / histamine challenge at and away from work if possible. If the diagnosis remains equivocal after these tests then we would reccommend specific bronchial challenge.

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