Ockham's Razor: The Application of Parsimonious Medicine in Allergy/Immunology.

🤖 Plain-English Summary

The spectacular advances of modern medicine have distracted clinicians from applying the age-old principles of thorough history and examination followed by only ordering tests relevant to the patient's presentation. The current fashion to test for vitamin D insufficiency in patients with poorly controlled allergic diseases has rarely achieved benefit but significantly increased costs.

🔑 Key Findings

• The most obvious diagnosis is the most likely and should be addressed first.
• Ockham's razor, or parsimonious medicine, should be applied because plurality of diagnoses is less likely than a single explanation.
• Component-resolved diagnostics and biological therapies for allergy/immune-mediated diseases have been highly effective when used by specialist allergy services.

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