Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Cardiovascular disease (CVDs) continues to be the leading cause of death worldwide, underscoring the urgent demand for rapid, sensitive, and easily accessible diagnostic tools to support timely clinical decision-making. Paper-based point-of-care (POC) platforms have gained attention as attractive alternatives to traditional laboratory assays, helping to overcome challenges such as high costs, dependence on centralized infrastructure, and operational complexity. This review provides a critical assessment of recent advances in paper-based POC technologies for portable and rapid detection of CVD-related biomarkers. It emphasizes device design, fabrication methodologies, and advanced analytical strategies that biorecognition probe functionalized nanomaterials, signal amplification methods, and microfluidic configurations to improve sensitivity, specificity, and multiplexed analysis. These developments support the reliable measurement of key clinical biomarkers, including high-sensitivity cardiac troponins, natriuretic peptides, and inflammatory indicators. Moreover, various detection systems such as colorimetric, fluorescence, chemiluminescence, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, and electrochemical output have been integrated to enhance assay performance for targets present at low concentrations. In parallel, emerging approaches such as smartphone-based quantification and AI-powered data analysis are increasing the utility of paper-based POC diagnostics in decentralized and resource-constrained environments. Finally, this review summarizes recent technological milestones, outlines existing limitations to clinical translation, and proposes future perspectives, emphasizing the transformative role of paper-based POC platforms in improving cardiovascular diagnostics and expanding access to global healthcare.
Vairaperumal et al. (Mon,) studied this question.