A research team from Cornell University in the US has developed a small, portable system for the diagnosis of debilitating nutrient deficiency.
Funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), the new diagnostic system is designed to facilitate on-field blood testing for vitamin A and iron deficiencies.
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Statistics suggest that one third of the world’s population suffer from vitamin and mineral deficiencies. These conditions can result in health disorders such as vision impairment due to low vitamin A or anaemia because of iron deficiency.
The new low-cost, rapid blood test delivers three diagnostic results through a colour-sensitive, disposable test strip.
It can identify iron deficiency if a patient’s ferritin protein levels are lower than the normal threshold and can also indicate below normal cases of retinol-binding protein, which is a form of vitamin A.
In addition, the test strip detects a protein associated with inflammation that can change results, in turn affecting a clinician’s interpretation of the results.
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By GlobalDataNIBIB Connected Health, Point-of-Care Technologies, and Telehealth programmes director Tiffani Lash said: “Rapid diagnostic testing platforms, such as the test strip for iron and Vitamin A levels, demonstrate positive examples of point of care technologies that merge scientific and technological capabilities with clinical need.
“This type of intervention could have a significant impact in preventing disease, especially in low-resource countries.”
The research team tested 43 human samples and found that the new diagnostic system delivered accurate results compared to conventional test kit approaches.
The system successfully identified 21% of iron deficiency cases, 9% of vitamin A deficiency cases and 23% of minimal-to-moderate inflammation cases.
