Concordance of hemoglobin A1c and reproductive hormone levels in menstrual and venous blood
Naseri et al.
The finding, in our words
A study of 152 women found that HbA1c and reproductive hormone levels from menstrual blood collected via a modified pad highly correlated with venous blood, supporting its use as a decentralised surrogate, though interassay variability was noted.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
Home DBS sampling gave testosterone results that agreed well with venous blood in men on intramuscular testosterone undecanoate, but showed falsely high values in those using topical gel, likely from skin contamination. Patients preferred home collection for its convenience, suggesting DBS is viable for decentralised monitoring of injectable testosterone if patients are taught proper technique.
This study found that dried blood spot samples stored at room temperature for four years correlated highly with serum measurements for testosterone and androstenedione, indicating that hematocrit adjustment may be unnecessary for serial monitoring in home-based self-sampling.
This study found that measuring thyroid-stimulating hormone via dried blood spots and a volumetric device showed high agreement with serum results, with classification accuracy exceeding 96 per cent. The volumetric approach demonstrated improved reproducibility and stability, supporting its use for decentralised thyroid function monitoring.
In a study of 46 perinatal nicotine users, dried blood spots and saliva were used weekly to measure reproductive hormones, finding that lower postpartum estradiol and greater peripartum declines in oxytocin were associated with increased nicotine craving and use. This demonstrates the feasibility of decentralised microsampling and remote surveys for longitudinal hormone tracking in vulnerable populations.
Capillary dried blood spots yielded reference ranges for testosterone, androstenedione, 17α hydroxyprogesterone and progesterone in healthy premenopausal women, with lower concentrations in users of systemic hormonal contraceptives and cycle-related variation for 17OHP and P4. These ranges enable screening for disorders of sex development using less invasive microsampling.