Document Type
Artefact
Department
Paediatrics and Child Health (East Africa)
Abstract
Objective To evaluate the performance of the point-of-care i-STAT device for creatinine measurement in Ugandan children with sickle cell anemia (SCA), and to determine the clinical impact of hydroxyurea-associated assay interference.
Results description This secondary analysis was nested within a randomized clinical trial involving 248 Ugandan children with SCA. The mean age at enrollment was 32 months, and 115/248 (46.2%) initiated hydroxyurea during 12 months of follow-up as part of routine clinical care. At enrollment, creatinine values measured by i-STAT and reference laboratory testing were clinically comparable. At follow-up, children receiving hydroxyurea had significantly higher creatinine values measured by iSTAT than by reference laboratory testing (mean difference +0.19 mg/dL; p=0.006), with several i-STAT results falling within the clinically abnormal range. No such discrepancy was observed among children not receiving hydroxyurea. In a subset of samples, serum hydroxyurea concentrations measured by highperformance liquid chromatography accounted for 73% of the variability in i-STAT creatinine values. These findings demonstrate clinically meaningful interference of hydroxyurea with enzymatic point-of-care creatinine testing, which may result in misclassification of kidney function and inappropriate clinical decision-making in children with SCA receiving hydroxyurea. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03528434 (date registered: May 7th, 2018).
Publication (Name of Journal)
BMC research notes
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-026-07916-1
Recommended Citation
Namazzi, R.,
Opoka, R.,
Ssuuna, C.,
Goings, M.,
McElhinney, K.,
Datta, D.,
Ware, R.,
John, C.,
Conroy, A.
(2026). Hydroxyurea interferes with point-of-care creatinine testing in children with sickle cell anemia. BMC research notes, 1-18.
Available at:
https://ecommons.aku.edu/eastafrica_fhs_mc_paediatr_child_health/632
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