Verification of the Reliability of an Automated Urine Test Strip Colorimetric Program Using Colorimetric Analysis:...

Area of Science:

• Medical Diagnostics
• Biomedical Engineering
• Urology

Background:

• Visual assessment of urine test strips is subjective and prone to errors from environmental and human factors.
• Objective assessment of urine test strips is needed for reliable noninvasive urinary microalbumin testing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an automated urine test strip colorimetric program for objective assessment.
• To validate the program's reliability against automatic urine analyzers.
• To assess the program's sensitivity and specificity for microalbuminuria screening.

Main Methods:

• An automated urine test strip colorimetric program was developed using Accelerated KAZE and CIEDE2000 color difference formula.
• Images of urine test strips were captured in a controlled photography box using a smartphone camera.
• The program's performance was evaluated by comparing its results with those from automatic urine analyzers.

Main Results:

• The program achieved an average agreement rate of 78.6% for 12 urine test strip items compared to automatic analyzers.
• An average agreement rate of 95.4% within ±1 rank was observed for the 12 items.
• For albumin detection, the program showed 100% sensitivity and 58.6% specificity, with a satisfactory area under the curve (0.907).

Conclusions:

• The developed program provides objective urine test strip determination without calibration in a controlled environment.
• Home-based use of this program for urinary microalbumin testing could facilitate early detection and treatment of diabetic nephropathy.