2026 · The American journal of clinical nutrition · paywalled
Thiamine status in Belgian adults assessed by volumetric absorptive microsampling: a nation-wide cross-sectional survey
Heughebaert et al.
The finding, in our words
In a nationwide survey of 1047 Belgian adults, at-home VAMS achieved a 63% participation-to-analysis completion rate with 16% of samples excluded due to insufficient quality. While dietary intake suggested adequate thiamine consumption, 11% of participants had blood thiamine diphosphate concentrations below the reference threshold, showing the utility of remote microsampling for identifying true nutritional status.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
A UHPLC-HRMS assay quantified 25-hydroxyvitamin D2 and D3 from 20 µL Mitra VAMS samples with accuracy under 10% and precision under 11%, LOQ 5 ng/mL: sensitive enough to flag deficiency and simple enough for untrained self-collection, enabling year-round vitamin-D monitoring.
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.
PEth reference values for Belgium were derived from VAMS microsampling of 487 participants in a national survey, showing distinct biomarker distributions between the general population and higher‑alcohol‑consumption subgroups. This validates capillary blood collection as a practical method for decentralised alcohol monitoring and forensic assessment.
A comparison of blood microsampling found that after 35 days, PFAS recovery changed by over 10% for five analytes using the Neoteryx hemaPEN and four using Whatman 903, but zero using the Neoteryx Mitra. The Mitra retained 45 of 49 PFAS within 70-130% recovery, showing its high stability for decentralised biomonitoring without contamination risks.
The study found very strong correlation between venous blood collection and capillary VAMS using Mitra devices for detecting SARS-CoV-2 spike antibodies, with samples remaining stable at room temperature for several months. This enables reliable at-home, patient-centric serological testing for large-scale community surveillance and vaccine studies.