Laboratory of Toxicology, Department of Bioanalysis, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2021 Sep 1;114(3):1200-1207. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqab146.
Although populations from low- and middle-income countries are at higher risk for thiamine (vitamin B-1) deficiency, accurate data on the global prevalence of thiamine deficiency are still lacking due to the difficult blood collection in remote regions. Volumetric absorptive microsampling (VAMS) from finger prick blood, generating dried blood microsamples, could simplify blood collection and allow the setup of epidemiological studies to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of thiamine deficiency.
To explore the potential of VAMS to serve as an alternative, patient-centric sampling strategy to evaluate the thiamine status.
Venous liquid, venous VAMS, and capillary VAMS samples were collected from 50 healthy volunteers to compare thiamine diphosphate results, as a marker of thiamine (vitamin B-1) status, in the different sample types. In addition, capillary VAMS samples were sent through regular mail to evaluate the influence of noncontrolled transport on the final results. All samples were analyzed using previously described fully validated LC-MS/MS methods.
A good agreement (94-100% of the results lying within 20% of their mean) was obtained for all comparisons: venous VAMS compared with venous liquid blood samples, capillary VAMS compared with venous VAMS samples, and capillary VAMS compared with venous liquid blood samples, with no significant bias (maximum mean bias of -1.0%; 95% CI: -4.1%, 2.0%) observed between the different methods. Finally, we demonstrated that VAMS samples can be safely transported through regular mail without affecting the final results.
VAMS sampling can be used as a reliable alternative tool to evaluate the thiamine status, starting from only one drop of finger prick blood, in both developed and developing countries.
尽管来自中低收入国家的人群面临更高的硫胺素（维生素 B1）缺乏风险，但由于偏远地区采血困难，仍缺乏关于全球硫胺素缺乏症流行率的准确数据。通过手指刺破采血获得的容量吸收微采样（VAMS），生成干血微样本，可以简化采血过程，并为开展流行病学研究提供便利，从而改善硫胺素缺乏症的诊断、治疗和预防。
探索 VAMS 作为替代以患者为中心的采样策略，用于评估硫胺素状况的潜力。
从 50 名健康志愿者中采集静脉液、静脉 VAMS 和毛细血管 VAMS 样本，以比较不同样本类型中作为硫胺素（维生素 B1）状况标志物的二磷酸硫胺素结果。此外，通过普通邮件发送毛细血管 VAMS 样本，以评估非受控运输对最终结果的影响。所有样本均采用先前描述的经过充分验证的 LC-MS/MS 方法进行分析。
所有比较均获得了良好的一致性（94-100%的结果在其平均值的 20%范围内）：静脉 VAMS 与静脉液样本相比、毛细血管 VAMS 与静脉 VAMS 样本相比、毛细血管 VAMS 与静脉液样本相比，所有方法之间均未观察到显著偏差（最大平均偏差为-1.0%；95%CI：-4.1%，2.0%）。最后，我们证明 VAMS 样本可以通过普通邮件安全运输，而不会影响最终结果。
VAMS 采样可以作为一种可靠的替代工具，用于评估发达和发展中国家仅从一滴手指刺破血样开始的硫胺素状况。
