ArticleKidney international reports2017
Diagnostic Performance of a Saliva Urea Nitrogen Dipstick to Detect Kidney Disease in Malawi.
Article in Kidney international reports, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Saliva urea nitrogen for detection of kidney disease in adults: A meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Infection-associated acute kidney injury in resource-limited settings.Nature reviews. Nephrology · 2026Review
- A multivariate biosensor for non-invasive glucose and urea monitoringRSC advances · 2025Article
- Evaluation of salivary urea nitrogen test in cats with lower urinary tract outflow obstructions.The Canadian veterinary journal = La revue veterinaire canadienne · 2025Article
- Evaluating kidney function using a point-of-care creatinine test in Ugandan children with severe malaria: a prospective cohort study.BMC nephrology · 2021Article
- Data Challenges in Addressing Chronic Kidney Disease in Low- and Lower-Middle-Income Countries.Kidney international reports · 2021Review
- Pragmatic Recommendations for the Prevention and Treatment of Acute Kidney Injury in Patients with COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2021Article
- Malaria-Associated Acute Kidney Injury in African Children: Prevalence, Pathophysiology, Impact, and Management Challenges.International journal of nephrology and renovascular disease · 2021Review
- Dynamics of salivary markers of kidney functions in acute and chronic kidney diseases.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Diagnostic performance of a point-of-care saliva urea nitrogen dipstick to screen for kidney disease in low-resource settings where serum creatinine is unavailable.BMJ global health · 2020Article
- Diagnostic performance of salivary urea nitrogen dipstick to detect and monitor acute kidney disease in patients with malaria.Malaria journal · 2018Article
- Incidence, aetiology and outcomes of obstetric-related acute kidney injury in Malawi: a prospective observational study.BMC nephrology · 2018Observational
- A Salivary Urea Nitrogen Dipstick to Detect Obstetric-Related Acute Kidney Disease in Malawi.Kidney international reports · 2018Article
- Salivary creatinine and urea are higher in an experimental model of acute but not chronic renal disease.PloS one · 2018Article
- Novel Biomarkers in the Diagnosis of Chronic Kidney Disease and the Prediction of Its Outcome.International journal of molecular sciences · 2017Review
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionKidney disease (KD), including acute kidney injury, is common, severe and leads to significant mortality in the developing world. However, simple tools to facilitate diagnosis and guide treatment are lacking. We studied the diagnostic performance of saliva urea nitrogen (SUN) measured by dipstick to diagnose KD in a low-resource setting.
methodsMedical admissions to a tertiary hospital in Malawi had serum creatinine tested at presentation; SUN was measured using a dipstick. Patients with serum creatinine above normal range underwent serial measurements of SUN and blood urea nitrogen for up to 7 days. Hospital outcome was recorded in all patients.
resultsA total of 742 patients were included (age 41 ± 17·3 years, 56.1% male); 146 (19.7%) had KD, including 114 (15.4%) with acute kidney injury. SUN >14 mg/dl had a sensitivity of 0.72 and a specificity of 0.87 to diagnose KD; specificity increased to 0.97 when SUN levels were combined with self-reported urine output. The diagnostic performance of SUN was comparable with the one of blood urea nitrogen (SUN area under curve, 0.82; 95% confidence interval, 0.78-0.87; blood urea nitrogen area under curve, 0.82; 95% confidence interval, 0.59-1.0). SUN >14 mg/dl on admission was an independent predictor of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio = 2.43 [95% confidence interval, 1.63-3.62]). DISCUSSION: SUN measured by dipstick can be used to identify patients with KD in a low-resource setting. SUN is an independent predictor of mortality in this population.
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