Acceptability of Point of Care testing in pregnancy (APRICOTS)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Acute Kidney Injury Point of CaRe testing In pregnancy: a feasibility COhorT Study (APRICOTS)
IRAS ID
279788
Contact name
Katherine Clark
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 5 months, 31 days
Research summary
Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is the sudden loss of kidney function that makes people more likely to develop long-term kidney and heart problems and can even lead to death. About one-third of AKI cases are preventable. The number of pregnant women with AKI has increased but we do not know how many or which women are affected. AKI is usually detected by measuring a reduction in urine production or rise in blood creatinine (a marker of kidney function).
The kidney's work about 50% harder during pregnancy making AKI more difficult to detect because creatinine levels are often low. If we can work out which pregnant women are at risk of AKI then we can change their treatment early. Testing of creatinine from a finger prick blood test has been found to reduce AKI outside pregnancy because results are available immediately. A new urine test to predict AKI has also been shown to be useful in non-pregnant patients, but neither test has been studied in pregnancy.
This study aims to check whether women and midwives are willing to use finger-prick and urine tests to predict AKI. I plan to recruit around 550 women including some women with extra risk factors for AKI (e.g. infection) and ask them for finger-prick and urine tests. I will ask them how they feel about the tests. I will ask health care professionals if they think the new tests are helpful. The study findings will be used to design a future trial to reduce AKI in pregnancy.
REC name
London - Harrow Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/LO/0812
Date of REC Opinion
9 Jan 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion