Establishing the performance and acceptability of dried blood spot sampling to screen for islet‐specific autoantibodies
Authors' conclusion
DBS sampling can be used as an alternative to serum for use with the 3-screen assay for general population type 1 diabetes autoantibody screening. DBS sampling appears acceptable to parents and stakeholders.
Study context
- Population
- Individuals with T1D on insulin (aged 7–73 years) and healthy controls (aged 18–60 years)101 T1D, 22 healthy controls (HC)
- Comparison
- Dried blood spots (DBS) vs serum sampling for 3-screen islet autoantibody ELISA
- Outcome
- Performance (sensitivity, specificity) of 3-screen islet autoantibody (IA-2A, GADA, ZnT8A) ELISA in DBS vs serum
Methodological detailspaired serum and DBS samples, semi-structured interviews
- Paired serum and DBS samples
- Semi-structured interviews
Performance
As reported in the abstract
3-screen assay performance
| Test or model | Sensitivity | Specificity |
|---|---|---|
| Serum | 86% | 97% |
| DBS | 89% | 100% |
Sensitivity
Serum86%
DBS89%
Specificity
Serum97%
DBS100%
Further findings
Acceptability of DBS testing (interviews)
- Parents (n = 38) and stakeholders (n = 25) thought DBS testing a minimally invasive, convenient screening test
- Parents emphasised choice of screening location, incl. home and community settings
Parts of this Brief are withheld: the automatic checks could not confirm them against the abstract.
Original publication
Establishing the performance and acceptability of dried blood spot sampling to screen for islet‐specific autoantibodies. Diabet Med. Published 19 May 2025. doi:10.
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