FRIDAY, March 29, 2019 (HealthDay News) — A simple point-of-care urine test can rapidly detect preeclampsia, according to a study published in the February issue of EClinicalMedicine.
Kara M. Rood, M.D., from The Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus, and colleagues evaluated the diagnostic performance of a paper-based point-of-care test for detecting urine congophilia as a method for rapid triage and diagnosis of preeclampsia. In total, 346 consecutive pregnant women who were evaluated for preeclampsia in a single labor and delivery triage unit were included. The Congo Red Dot (CRD) Paper Test was compared to an expert-adjudicated diagnosis in each case and to urine and serum analytes (placental growth factor and soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1).
The researchers found that during the first triage visit, 32 percent of women received a clinical diagnosis of preeclampsia, although 63 percent were admitted for inpatient diagnostic work-up or delivery. The CRD Paper Test was positive in 25 percent of the 346 cases and preeclampsia was confirmed in 28 percent of all cases. The CRD Paper Test outperformed the serum and urine markers evaluated (80.2 percent sensitivity, 89.2 percent specificity, 92.1 percent negative predictive value, 86.7 percent accuracy). Thirty-eight percent of women who were discharged undelivered had at least one additional triage visit, with an interval of 12 days between the last negative and first positive CRD Paper Test.
“Implementation of the CRD Paper Test in the triage area could be a useful tool for rapid diagnosis of [preeclampsia] and avoidance of unnecessary deliveries,” the authors write.
Two study authors are named as inventors or coinventors on patent applications filed by Yale University on the use of protein misfolding for diagnostic and treatment purposes of preeclampsia. They also received royalties from Yale.
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