Smartphone-Based Home Albuminuria Testing Boosts Screening

TOPLINE: 

Screening for albuminuria, a key marker of cardiorenal risk, remains inadequate among patients with diabetes or hypertension. A smartphone-enabled home testing solution, evaluated in 4000 adults, effectively increased screening rates and enabled early diagnosis of kidney disease.

METHODOLOGY:

• Regular albuminuria testing is recommended in high-risk patients with diabetes or hypertension to enable early detection and timely intervention for kidney and cardiovascular complications; however, screening levels remains suboptimal.
• Researchers randomly selected 4000 adults (mean age, 61 years; 49% women; 93% White) from a large Central Pennsylvania healthcare system who had not undergone albumin-creatinine ratio testing in the previous 12 months; half the patients in the cohort had hypertension without diabetes, and the remaining half had diabetes.
• Patients were provided with Minuteful Kidney, an FDA-cleared, smartphone-enabled home albuminuria screening kit. Results were delivered to participants via a smartphone application and to healthcare providers through electronic health records.
• The intervention group was propensity score-matched with a control group receiving usual care.

TAKEAWAY:

• Completion rates for any albumin-creatinine ratio testing were significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group (53.1% vs 21.2%; P < .001).
• The impact of the intervention on albumin-creatinine ratio testing completion was more pronounced among patients with hypertension without diabetes (completion rates, 53.4% in the intervention group vs 12.5% in the control group) than among those with diabetes (completion rates, 52.7% vs 30.0%).
• Over 270 days of follow-up, patients tested with Minuteful Kidney had higher rates of new diagnoses of proteinuria or kidney disease (4.0% vs 2.2%; P < .001).
• Patients with an abnormal albumin-creatinine ratio on the home-based test demonstrated greater engagement with primary care and nephrology services and were more likely to receive prescriptions for renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors than were those with normal results.

IN PRACTICE:

“A smartphone-enabled home albuminuria test is effective in increasing albuminuria screening and diagnosis of kidney disease among high-risk individuals,” the authors concluded.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Waleed Zafar in Danville, Pennsylvania. It was presented on June 20, 2025, at the 85th Scientific Sessions – American Diabetes Association held at the McCormick Place Convention Center, Chicago.

LIMITATIONS: 

The abstract did not discuss any limitations.

DISCLOSURES:

Two authors disclosed receiving research support from various pharmaceutical companies.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.