title: Point-of-care creatinine testing in children at risk for sudden deterioration of renal function.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Point-of-care testing for creatinine blood concentrations may be useful in predicting the onset of recurrent conditions threatening renal function in children at home. Our aim was to evaluate two point-of-care systems for creatinine testing vs. an automated creatinine assay.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty patients aged between 2 months and 17 years were randomly selected. Capillary blood specimens were taken for two point-of-care tests (Reflotron and i-STAT), and the results were compared to the routine enzymatic creatinine assay on a Hitachi 912 analyser using material collected simultaneously.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean difference in creatinine concentration between the Reflotron and the Hitachi 912 and i-STAT and Hitachi 912 test was -16 and 4 micromol/L, respectively. The slope of the Passing-Bablok method comparison was 0.95 (95% CI 0.87-1.06) and 0.96 (95% CI 0.90-1.00) for the Reflotron and i-STAT test, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The blood creatinine concentrations measured using the Reflotron and the i-STAT device correlated well with those from the routine assay, especially in the concentration range up to 500 micromol/L. Both systems are good options for point-of-care creatinine testing in capillary blood. However, the i-STAT seems the better option for monitoring at home given its greater ease of use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Chemistry, Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Paul W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Schenk
authors.forename: Karlien
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cransberg
authors.forename: Eric D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Wolff
authors.forename: Yolanda B
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: de Rijke
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003404:Creatinine / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007668:Kidney / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems
chemical_list: D003404:Creatinine