Objective    To study the importance of skin prick test (SPT) and total serum IgE level in diagnosis of cough variant asthma (CVA) in children.     Methods    Total IgE level and SPT findings in 125 patients with CVA (group A)

128 with bronchial asthma（group B）and 126 healthy children (control group) were assayed and compared.     Results    No significant difference was observed in total IgE level between groups A and B (P=0.802). The total IgE level was significantly higher in groups A and B than in control group (P0.01). The positive rates of inhaled and ingested total allergen in groups A and B were not significantly different from those in control group (P0.05). However

the positive rates of inhaled and ingested total allergen were significantly higher in groups A and B than in control group (P0.01). A significant difference was found in positive rates of inhaled and ingested total allergen among the 3 groups (P0.05). The positive rate of SPT was 65.6% (82/125) in group A. The total positive rate of inhaled allergen was 52.8% with the farinae and dermatophagoides pteronyssinus accounted for 46.4% and 43.2%

respectively. The total positive rate of ingested allergen was 28.8%

with the crab and egg albumen accounted for 33.6% and 22.4%

respectively. SPT showed that the strong positive rate of dermatophagoides farinae and dermatophagoides pteronyssinus was 24.0% and 21.6%

respectively.     Conclusion    The high positive rates of SPT and total serum IgE level are of great importance in diagnosis of CVA in children.