Serial Dried Blood Spot C-Peptide Sampling, but Not Urine C-Peptide-to-Creatinine Ratio, Detects Early Preservation of β-Cell Function in New-Onset Type 1 Diabetes: Experience From the USTEKID Trial
Dunseath et al.
The finding, in our words
Frequent dried blood spot sampling detected early changes in beta-cell function more effectively than mixed-meal tolerance tests or urine ratios, supporting its potential as a decentralised monitoring tool for clinical trials.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
This review establishes that microsampling across blood, saliva, urine and stool matrices offers validated workflows and regulatory recognition for human biomonitoring comparable to conventional methods. It finds that these decentralised approaches enhance participant acceptability and enable screening in remote or low-resource settings.
A study of 292 patients found that the slopes of home-collected stimulated dried blood spot C-peptide levels over six months predicted 12-month venous mixed-meal tolerance test results, P<0.001. This shows decentralised microsampling can monitor beta-cell function, though further validation is required to confirm its reliability and broader applicability.
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.
The study found that coached dried blood spot collection was feasible for remote biobehavioural assessment of CTRA gene expression among Black women activists, with usable data from 28 of 29 participants at baseline and 27 at follow-up. Within-person increases in activist identity and search for meaning were associated with more favourable CTRA gene expression changes, though mean CTRA did not shift across the group over the two-month period.
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.