Parents' perspectives on dried blood spot self-sampling from children with epilepsy: A mixed-method study
Linder et al.
The finding, in our words
This mixed-method study demonstrated that 97% of parents successfully collected dried blood spot samples from their children, with 72% reporting the process was easy and 80% preferring home collection. The results suggest that decentralised self-sampling for therapeutic drug monitoring is feasible and can reduce stress for families managing paediatric epilepsy.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
VAMS microsampling found no significant difference from venous blood for tacrolimus in paediatric patients; samples were stable for 14 days, with average difference between paired at-home samples of 0.12 ± 0.94 ng/mL.
This review found that volumetric microsampling devices, such as Mitra, HemaPEN, HemaXis DB10, and Tasso-M20, overcome haematocrit bias, whilst Telimmune plasma separation cards enable direct plasma collection without centrifugation. These technologies support patient-centric, decentralised sampling, though the authors note that clinical validation remains limited across different drugs and patient populations.
Enhanced visual and textual guidance significantly improved the quality of dried blood spots self-collected by children and adolescents, increasing the proportion of acceptable cards from 47.6% to 86.6%, which supports the feasibility of home sampling for therapeutic drug monitoring.
The study found that quantitative dried blood spot sampling provided high clinical agreement for tacrolimus and creatinine monitoring, with patients rating the self-collection devices as user-friendly. These results support the feasibility of decentralised therapeutic drug monitoring for immunosuppressants.
Dried blood spot collection proved feasible during parabolic flight, with seventeen of twenty volunteers successfully providing samples for caffeine pharmacokinetic profiling. The method yielded stable metabolic ratios between ground and weightless conditions, and participants reported high satisfaction, suggesting DBS could support therapeutic drug monitoring in remote or extreme environments such as long-term spaceflight.