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Reliability of urine collection pads for routine and metabolic biochemistry in infants and young children

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Abstract

The aim of our study was to evaluate whether specifically designed urine collection pads give reliable results for routine and metabolic biochemistry tests in paediatric urine. Urine collected by bag or clean-catch from infants and children <2 yrs without metabolic disorders was divided into two aliquots, one of which was added to a collection pad, incubated for 15 min at 37°C (simulating in vivo collection conditions), then recovered by aspiration. Urine from adults with phaeochromocytoma and aqueous solutions of catecholamines were similarly treated. Routine, catecholamine, and metabolic analyses were performed on pad/non-pad aliquots. Selected metabolic analyses were also performed on pad/non-pad urine from patients with diagnosed inborn errors and urine containing added metabolites to simulate metabolic disorders. Routine tests (urea, electrolytes, creatinine, osmolality, calcium:creatinine, phosphate:creatinine, magnesium:creatinine, urate:creatinine [n = 32], oxalate:creatinine [n = 10]), and catecholamines (n = 12) showed good or acceptable concordance with no clinically significant pad/non-pad differences. Metabolic tests in infants and children without metabolic disorders all showed good pad/non-pad concordance for amino acids (n = 10), organic acids (n = 12), and glycosaminoglycans (n = 8). In patients with metabolic disorders (phenylketonuria [n = 1], homozygous/heterozygous cystinuria [n = 3], mucopolysaccharidoses II [n = 2] and III [n = 1], organic acid disorders [n = 6]) and urine containing added orotic acid to simulate urea cycle disorders, there was also good pad/non-pad concordance for diagnostic urinary metabolites. No extraneous organic acids were eluted from the pads. Sugar chromatography showed identical staining intensity in pad/non-pad samples. In conclusion, urine collection pads give reliable results for a wide range of routine and metabolic biochemistry tests in urine from paediatric patients.

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Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to many colleagues in the Department of Paediatric Biochemistry, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh for the routine biochemistry assays and for their expertise in performing assays of aminoacids, organic acids, and mucopolysaccharides. We also thank Tamara Hanson in the Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Western General Hospital for the oxalate assays and Linda Griffiths in the Biochemistry Department, Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock for the catecholamine assays.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Paediatric Biochemistry, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh, EH9 1LF, UK

    Patricia M. Crofton & Neil Squires

  2. Biochemistry Department, Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock, UK

    D. Fraser Davidson

  3. Department of Medical Paediatrics, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh, UK

    Paul Henderson & Sepideh Taheri

Authors
  1. Patricia M. Crofton
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  2. Neil Squires
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  3. D. Fraser Davidson
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  4. Paul Henderson
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  5. Sepideh Taheri
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Correspondence to Patricia M. Crofton.

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Crofton, P.M., Squires, N., Davidson, D.F. et al. Reliability of urine collection pads for routine and metabolic biochemistry in infants and young children. Eur J Pediatr 167, 1313–1319 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-008-0733-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-008-0733-y

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