Y Hwang, Chen Tah, Fan Fang, Lin Fu, Chi Wu, Chin Lai, Yuchu Kang
Uric acid (UA) measurements are important for individuals with a wide range of conditions, including gout, pregnancy, diabetes, and cardiomyopathy. Many patients therefore use portable electrochemical biosensors to perform self-monitoring and maintenance of their UA concentration levels, while such biosensors are also used in various clinical settings. However, performance evaluations of the accuracy of such devices for UA measurement are lacking. Using self-imposed accuracy criteria and testing blood samples from 100 subjects, the present study compared the accuracy of a commercially available UA measurement biosensor chemically modified to reduce interference, namely, the BX-M000 device (General Life Biotechnology, Taiwan), with those of the Sysmex XE-5000 automatic whole blood analyzer and the Hitachi LABOSPECT 008 chemistry analyzer. The BX-M000 UA biosensor yielded �?� 95% of measurements within ± 0.75 mg/dl at UA concentrations <5 mg/dl and �?� 95% of measurements within ± 15% at UA concentrations ≥ 5 mg/dl, successfully exceeding the accuracy requirements. Furthermore, hematocrit sensitivity results showed that there was no significant interference from a variety of common medications at their high therapeutic levels. The BX-M000 UA monitoring device exhibits sufficient accuracy for the screening and monitoring of blood UA concentration levels for both self-monitoring and clinical contexts.