Assessment of a dried blood spot C-reactive protein method to identify disease flares in rheumatoid arthritis patients
D'Cruz et al.
The finding, in our words
The study found reasonable agreement between finger-prick dried blood spot CRP measurements and venous reference assays in 100 rheumatoid arthritis patients, particularly at low to mid-range CRP values, and showed that weekly self-collected DBS CRP monitoring improved flare detection specificity to 72.7% compared with 54.5% for minimal sampling, supporting decentralised microsampling for remote arthritis management.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
Capillary dried blood spots, after haematocrit-dependent conversion, showed good agreement with plasma for 25-hydroxyvitamin D quantification, with 90 per cent of results within 20 per cent of plasma and substantial to almost perfect agreement in status classification, supporting reliable home self-collection for large-scale vitamin D monitoring.
Heughebaert et al., Clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine (paywalled) · source ↗
In a 20-person proof-of-concept pilot among veterans with HIV, remote self-collection of dried blood spots for phosphatidylethanol monitoring was feasible and acceptable, with high return and analysis rates and positive feedback; a small first step toward decentralised alcohol biomarker monitoring rather than proof of it.
Sheinfil et al., Journal of substance use and addiction treatment (paywalled) · source ↗
Capillary finger-stick dried blood spots demonstrated strong analytical agreement with venous serum for prostate-specific antigen (R² = 0.987) and remained stable for 31 days across a wide temperature range. This less invasive microsampling approach enables at-home self-collection, supporting decentralised screening and tele-diagnostics for prostate cancer.
van Vugt et al., The journal of applied laboratory medicine (paywalled) · source ↗
In an adolescent with cerebral palsy undergoing a home-based, remotely supervised sprint-intensity interval training intervention, dried blood spot testing demonstrated a 37.8% reduction in triglycerides and a 15.4% improvement in total cholesterol to HDL ratio. This illustrates how remote microsampling can support decentralized metabolic monitoring in pediatric disability rehabilitation.
Microsampling enables less invasive, patient-centric self-collection of capillary blood for remote monitoring of metabolites and lipids, overcoming conventional venipuncture constraints. Recent device innovations address dried blood spot limitations, particularly haematocrit and volume variations, expanding decentralised applications in population health, drug discovery and multi-omics research.