Key result
Point-of-care testing and digital health technology identified chronic kidney disease in 57.5% of high-risk urban and 61.8% of high-risk rural populations in India.
Why the study?
CKD contributes significantly to morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs, and lack of early diagnosis leads to advanced stages requiring costly care.
Does point-of-care testing and digital health technology enable effective CKD screening in high-risk populations?
Cross-Sectional (n=2,060)
Yes
Does point-of-care testing and digital health technology enable effective CKD screening in high-risk populations?
Point-of-care testing combined with digital health technology is feasible and effective for identifying a high burden of undiagnosed CKD in high-risk Indian populations.
POCT and digital tools show feasible CKD screening in high-risk groups; leaves open whether adoption improves early detection or outcomes.
Introduction: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a significant contributor to morbidity, mortality, and health care expenditure. Lack of early diagnosis with treatment leads to progression to advanced stages requiring high-cost interventions. The current pilot study examined the feasibility of using point-of-care testing (POCT) and digital health technology for CKD screening. Methods: We performed screening in the following 2 populations: (i) 843 persons from high-risk urban (HRU) population with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), and (ii) 1217 persons from the hotspot CKD of unknown etiology (CKDu) rural (HCR) area population followed up in primary health centers (PHCs) in the Andhra Pradesh state of India. We followed the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) guidelines suggesting POCT use for serum creatinine and urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) determination in the settings with limited laboratory access. Results: Mean age was 54.4 (12.1) years, and 60.9% were female. CKD was identified in 57.5% and 61.8% of the city and rural groups, respectively. The HRU and HCR groups differed in the percentage of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) grade 4 (4.4% vs. 12.5%) and grade 5 (1.4% vs. 9.8%) and albuminuria grade A2 (8.1% vs. 20.6%) and A3 (12.6% vs. 7.1). In the HCR 48.4% of patients with CKD had no comorbidities. Only 1.4% in the HRU and 16.5% in the HCR groups were aware of existing CKD, even in the presence of multiple CKD risk factors. Conclusion: CKD screening using POCT and digital health technology allowed diagnosis of CKD in patients of high-risk groups and should be scaled up with the final goal to ensure early diagnosis, decrease costs, and improve patients' clinical management.
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Venkateswar et al. (2025) conducted a cross-sectional in Chronic kidney disease (n=2,060). Point-of-care testing (POCT) and digital health technology was evaluated on Identification of CKD. Point-of-care testing and digital health technology identified chronic kidney disease in 57.5% of high-risk urban and 61.8% of high-risk rural populations in India.
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