Participants as Partners in Decentralized Clinical Trials

The study found that although participants preferred patient-centric microsampling devices for home use, the agreement with venous plasma for measuring CRP and cytokines was inconsistent, indicating that further validation is required before these methods replace standard venipuncture.

Limited agreement of cytokines and CRP through patient-centric microsampling compared to venipuncture in healthy adults — Tuttle et al., Bioanalysis (paywalled) · source ↗

• dct
• venous-agreement
• acceptability
• blood
• dbs
• self-collection
• dried
• biomarkers

The study demonstrated the feasibility of a fully decentralised design by successfully recruiting 37 participants and completing follow-up for self-collected stool samples without requiring on-site visits.

Perioperative Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Cesarean Section and the Maternal Gut Microbiome: Protocol for a Remote Observational Cohort Study — Feles & Mattner, JMIR research protocols · source ↗

• stool
• self-collection
• dct
• microbiome

This study validated a low-cost 3D-printed smartphone attachment and paper sensor for measuring glucose, uric acid and cholesterol in saliva, demonstrating high correlation with standard ELISA results in a small clinical cohort. The authors suggest this platform offers a scalable solution for decentralised diabetes management by balancing sensitivity with affordability.

Nanostructured zinc-coordination supraparticles on cellulose fibers: A 3D-Printed μ-FAD integrated smartphone platform for multiplexed salivary metabolic monitoring — Yang et al., Biosensors & bioelectronics (paywalled) · source ↗

• dct
• economics
• metabolome
• self-collection
• liquid
• validation
• saliva

This study used home self-collected saliva samples to successfully monitor cytokines and cortisol in mothers and infants, finding that a community singing intervention significantly reduced salivary interleukin-6 levels in mothers with postnatal depression.

Community singing intervention reduces maternal salivary cytokines and enhances maternal-infant cortisol synchrony in postnatal depression: biological findings from the SHAPER-PND trial — Kirkpatrick et al., Brain, behavior, and immunity (paywalled) · source ↗

• dct
• cortisol
• self-collection
• pediatric
• hormones
• liquid
• saliva
• biomarkers

The study determined that an at-home saliva collection protocol using the passive drool method was feasible for Black women with histories of abuse, with 84% of participants completing at least one full day of adherent sampling. While the decentralised approach yielded usable cortisol data, women with histories of forced sex exposure showed lower protocol adherence scores.

Repeat At-Home Saliva Collection to Measure Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR): Protocol Feasibility Study Among Black Women With Histories of Abuse — Tsuyuki et al., Interactive journal of medical research (paywalled) · source ↗

• dct
• acceptability
• cortisol
• self-collection
• liquid
• saliva