Sean D Currin, Mwawi S Gondwe, Nokthula B Mayindi, Shingirai Chipungu, Bongekile L Khoza, Stephen Tollman, June Fabian, Jaya A George, ARK Consortium 

BMC Nephrol. 2021;22(1):103. 

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is predicted to increase over the next few decades and resource and access to central laboratory services is limited. Point-of-care testing (POCT) has the potential to detect markers of kidney damage, such as albuminuria. In this study, the authors evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of semi-quantitative albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR) POCT, as well as the extent of other abnormal findings in urine.  

They screened 700 participants for albuminuria and found that the prevalence of albuminuria was 11.6%. The sensitivity of the POC ACR system, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value was found to be 0.79, 0.84, 0.39 and 0.97, respectively. The group also reported abnormalities other than albuminuria and highlighted that some participants tested positive for haematuria, leucocytes, nitrites and glycosuria.  

The authors concluded that ACR POCT has good negative predictive value and could be used to rule out albuminuria when screening for CKD. Additionally, POCT was able to detect other urine abnormalities which may reflect kidney disease or co-morbid untreated genitourinary pathology, such as urinary tract infections or endemic schistosomiasis, with important implications for CKD. 

The full publication can be accessed here. 

COL-XXXXX 03/2022