Evaluation of the accuracy of an electronic point‐of‐care analyzer to quantify blood creatinine concentration in goats

BACKGROUND: There are no commercially available handheld blood creatinine analyzers validated in goats. OBJECTIVES: The objective of the study was to validate the accuracy of a handheld point‐of‐care (POC) analyzer (Nova StatSensor) for quantifying blood creatinine concentration in goats. A secondary objective was to compare this POC against a chemistry analyzer to classify goats as normal or having mild or moderate azotemia. ANIMALS: Sixty‐three goats admitted to a referral hospital. METHODS: Cross‐sectional study. Venous blood was obtained, and creatinine concentration was measured by the POC in duplicate. Plasma was submitted for creatinine determination via the chemistry analyzer (gold standard). RESULTS: A total of 101 blood samples were collected from 63 goats. There was high repeatability for creatinine concentrations obtained by the POC (adjusted R (2) = .97, P < .0001). Correlation of POC concentrations with those reported by the chemistry analyzer was moderate (adjusted R (2) = .57, P < .0001). When correctly categorizing goats with mild azotemia, the POC demonstrated a sensitivity of 73.3% and a specificity of 88.3%. For moderate to severe azotemia, the POC had a sensitivity of 75.0% and specificity of 97.5%. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: The Nova StatSensor POC provided above average accuracy for measuring blood creatinine concentration in goats compared with the gold standard test.