The use of whole blood capillary samples to measure 15 analytes for a home-collect biochemistry service during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: A proposed model from North West London Pathology.
Ann Clin Biochem
; 58(5): 411-421, 2021 09.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1181016
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the delivery of secondary care services. Self-collection of capillary blood at home can facilitate the monitoring of patients with chronic disease to support virtual clinics while mitigating the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission.OBJECTIVE:
To investigate the comparability of whole blood capillary and plasma venous samples for 15 routinely used biochemical analytes and to develop and pilot a user-friendly home-collection kit to support virtual outpatient clinical services.METHODS:
To investigate the comparability of whole blood capillary and plasma venous samples for 15 routinely requested biochemical analytes, simultaneous samples of venous and capillary blood were collected in EDTA and lithium-heparin plasma separation tubes that were of 4-6 mL and 400-600 µL draw volume, respectively. Venous samples were analysed within 4 h of collection while capillary samples were kept at ambient temperature for three days until centrifugation and analysis. Analyte results that were comparable between the matrices were then piloted in a feasibility study in three outpatient clinical services.RESULTS:
HbA1c, lipid profile and liver function tests were considered comparable and piloted in the patient feasibility study. The home-collect kit demonstrated good patient usability.CONCLUSION:
Home collection of capillary blood could be a clinically-useful tool to deliver virtual care to patients with chronic disease.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Blood Chemical Analysis
/
Blood Specimen Collection
/
Pandemics
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
Ann Clin Biochem
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
00045632211004995
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS