ArticlePloS one2019
Head-to-head comparison of three stool calprotectin tests for home use.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Herpesviridae Reactivation and Therapeutic Outcomes in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis Treated with Tofacitinib.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Artificial intelligence in inflammatory bowel disease: From current evidence, clinical translation, and the road to precision medicine.Chinese medical journal · 2026Review
- Investigation of Appropriate Telemedicine for Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan) · 2026Article
- The Impact of Proactive Fecal Calprotectin Collection in an Outreach Protocol for Biologic-Naïve Ulcerative Colitis Patients-Ulcerative Colitis Clinical Outreach (UCCO).Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Remote Patient Monitoring and Connected Technologies in Inflammatory Bowel Disease.Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2025Article
- Article
- Remote Monitoring for Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Current Status and the Future of the Field.Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2024Article
- Faecal calprotectin in primary care: is its current use supported by the evidence?The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2024Review
- High-affinity peptides developed against calprotectin and their application as synthetic ligands in diagnostic assays.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Are we ready for telemonitoring inflammatory bowel disease? A review of advances, enablers, and barriers.World journal of gastroenterology · 2023Review
- iSTART-II: An Update on the i Support Therapy-Access to Rapid Treatment (iSTART) Approach for Patient-Centered Therapy in Mild-to-Moderate Ulcerative Colitis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- A hands-free stool sampling system for monitoring intestinal health and disease.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Inflammatory bowel disease clinical service recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontline gastroenterology · 2022Article
- Crohn's and Colitis Canada's 2021 Impact of COVID-19 and Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Canada: Health Care Delivery During the Pandemic and the Future Model of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Care.Journal of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology · 2021Article
- Article
- Utility of Fecal Calprotectin in Routine Clinical Practice Is Impaired by Poor Sample Return Rates.Digestive diseases and sciences · 2021Article
- Article
- The comparison of the three assays for determination of fecal calprotectin in inflammatory bowel disease.Biochemia medica · 2021Article
- Point-of-care faecal calprotectin testing in patients with paediatric inflammatory bowel disease during the COVID-19 pandemic.BMJ open gastroenterology · 2021Article
- International consensus on methodological issues in standardization of fecal calprotectin measurement in inflammatory bowel diseases.United European gastroenterology journal · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTreatment decisions in inflammatory bowel diseases are increasingly based on longitudinal tracking of calprotectin results. Many hospital laboratories measure calprotectin levels in sent-in stool samples with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Several manufacturers introduced a lateral flow-based test with software application that turns a smartphone camera into a reader for quantitative measurements. We compared three home tests (IBDoc, QuantonCal and CalproSmart) and companion ELISA tests (fCAL, IDK-Calprotectin and Calprotectin-ALP) to see if measurement pairs agreed sufficiently.
designA method comparison study was conducted with stool samples from patients with active or quiescent inflammatory bowel disease. Medical students without any specific laboratory training carried out the home tests with two iOS (iPhone 6 and 7) and two Android devices (Samsung Galaxy S6 and Motorola Moto G5 Plus). Two experienced laboratory technicians measured the calprotectin concentration with the ELISA method. Primary outcome was test agreement (defined as percentage of paired measurements within predefined limits of difference). Secondary outcome included reading error rate (RER) per smartphone type.
resultsWe performed 1440 smartphone readings and 120 ELISA tests. In the low calprotectin range (≤500 μg/g) IBDoc, QuantOnCal and CalproSmart showed 87%, 82% and 76% agreement with their companion ELISAs. In the high range (>500 μg/g) the agreement was 37%, 19% and 37%, respectively. CalproSmart and QuantOnCal had significantly higher RERs than IBDoc (respectively 5.8% and 4.8%, versus 1.9%). Forty-three percent of reading errors was on the Motorola device, in particular with the QuantOnCal application.
conclusionsAll three calprotectin home tests and companion ELISAs agreed sufficiently when concentrations are ≤500 μg/g. To minimize wrongful interpretation of calprotectin changes over time it is essential to always use the home test and companion ELISA of one and the same manufacturer. Manufacturers should explicitly evaluate and report the suitability of commonly used smartphones for quantitative calprotectin readings.
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