TY - JOUR

T1 - No pain, just gain: Painless, easy, and fast dried blood spot collection from fingertip and upper arm in doping control

AU - Solheim, Sara Amalie

AU - Ringsted, Thomas Kamm

AU - Nordsborg, Nikolai Baastrup

AU - Dehnes, Yvette

AU - Levernaes, Maren Christin Stillesby

AU - Mørkeberg, Jakob

N1 - This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - This study aimed to determine and compare the perception, painfulness, and usability of the minimally invasive Dried Blood Spot (DBS) collections from fingertip vs. upper arm from different athlete populations: males and females representing sports dependent on hand/arm, sports less dependent on hand/arm and para-athletes. To accomplish this, 108 national level athletes from Denmark were recruited (♀ = 49, ♂ = 59, 25 ± 6 years; mean±SD) and 11 Doping Control Officers (DCOs) collected manual fingerprick DBS (HemaSpot HF) and automated upper-arm DBS (Tasso-M20) from each athlete. Athletes and DCOs responded to questionnaires regarding the perception of sample collection procedures. On a 0-10 scale, the athletes reported a low pain score and a very good general experience for both sampling sites but following upper-arm DBS collection the associated pain was rated lower (-0.4 ± 1.6, p < 0.05) and the general experience rated better (+0.6 ± 2.3, p ≤ 0.001) than after the fingerprick DBS collection. The DCOs rated the general experience with the upper-arm DBS collection better (+1.6 ± 1.1, p ≤ 0.01) than the fingerprick DBS collection, partly because problems occurred more frequently during the DBS collection from the fingertip (28%) than from the upper arm (6%). In conclusion, it appears that DBS sampling is affiliated with minimal sensation of pain and is preferred by both DCOs and athletes, independent of gender and discipline, over conventional sample collection methods. Collection of DBS from the upper arm was preferred over fingerprick by both athletes and DCOs.

AB - This study aimed to determine and compare the perception, painfulness, and usability of the minimally invasive Dried Blood Spot (DBS) collections from fingertip vs. upper arm from different athlete populations: males and females representing sports dependent on hand/arm, sports less dependent on hand/arm and para-athletes. To accomplish this, 108 national level athletes from Denmark were recruited (♀ = 49, ♂ = 59, 25 ± 6 years; mean±SD) and 11 Doping Control Officers (DCOs) collected manual fingerprick DBS (HemaSpot HF) and automated upper-arm DBS (Tasso-M20) from each athlete. Athletes and DCOs responded to questionnaires regarding the perception of sample collection procedures. On a 0-10 scale, the athletes reported a low pain score and a very good general experience for both sampling sites but following upper-arm DBS collection the associated pain was rated lower (-0.4 ± 1.6, p < 0.05) and the general experience rated better (+0.6 ± 2.3, p ≤ 0.001) than after the fingerprick DBS collection. The DCOs rated the general experience with the upper-arm DBS collection better (+1.6 ± 1.1, p ≤ 0.01) than the fingerprick DBS collection, partly because problems occurred more frequently during the DBS collection from the fingertip (28%) than from the upper arm (6%). In conclusion, it appears that DBS sampling is affiliated with minimal sensation of pain and is preferred by both DCOs and athletes, independent of gender and discipline, over conventional sample collection methods. Collection of DBS from the upper arm was preferred over fingerprick by both athletes and DCOs.

KW - Faculty of Science

KW - Anti-doping

KW - Dried Blood Spots (DBS)

KW - Sampling site

KW - Questionnaire

KW - Pain

U2 - 10.1002/dta.3135

DO - 10.1002/dta.3135

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 34346172

VL - 13

SP - 1783

EP - 1790

JO - Drug Testing and Analysis

JF - Drug Testing and Analysis

SN - 1942-7603

IS - 10

ER -