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Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects over 800 million individuals worldwide, with mortality rates expected to rise in the coming years. Early diagnosis and effective monitoring could significantly reduce the risk of severe or fatal complications. Serum creatinine, a key clinical parameter used to estimate glomerular filtration rate, plays a central role in CKD diagnosis and monitoring. The development of point-of-care (PoC) solutions for creatinine measurement using alternative non-invasive approaches could increase testing frequency and improve disease management, especially in frail and multimorbid older populations. This review paper provides an overview on recent advances in portable (bio)sensing devices for creatinine detection in non-invasive biofluids (i.e., sweat, saliva, tears, and interstitial fluid), focusing on biofluids analysed, included methods for stimulation and collection, strategies for selective target detection, techniques for accurate creatinine measurement highlighting the working principles and the analytical performance reached. A literature search of the last twelve years (2015–2026) has been performed using Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science databases, producing 207 papers, of which 44 have been selected and critically analysed. In summary, the proposed sensing strategies and technologies for non-invasive creatinine detection, particularly in saliva and sweat, offer a promising foundation for the development of PoC devices aimed at improving CKD prevention, early diagnosis, and long-term monitoring. Although further validation is required, including system scalability and testing in real samples, these solutions could enable accessible, continuous, and patient-friendly health monitoring, even outside clinical settings, thereby promoting broader healthcare awareness and management.
Francalanci et al. (Mon,) studied this question.