POCT CRP

Purpose:
Antimicrobial resistance is a major global healthcare problem, with antibiotics for respiratory infections accounting for around 60% of all primary care prescriptions, which in turn comprise 80% of the total antibiotic burden. C-reactive protein (CRP) is a well-established marker for inflammation and infection and is increasingly used in POCT settings to help guide appropriate prescribing of antibiotics for people with lower respiratory tract infection. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, (NICE) guidelines [NG237], suspected acute respiratory infection, (ARI) in over 16s: assessment at first presentation and initial management, recommend that antibiotics are not routinely offered if CRP < 20 mg/L, to consider back-up antibiotic at 20-100 and offer immediate antibiotics > 100 mg/L. In Wales, the guidelines for the management of acute COPD exacerbation recommends alterative threshold in this cohort of 20-40 for antibiotic consideration and a lower threshold of > 40 mg/L to prescribe antibiotics.

Scope:
Two liquid human serum samples are distributed bimonthly with a minimum of 12 samples distributed over the year covering a wide clinically relevant range. The samples consist of endogenous samples from normal volunteers and patients, along with additional samples spiked with a highly purified source of human CRP to provide an extended clinical range used for the assessment of patients with ARI and COPD exacerbations. The programme assesses both laboratory and method performance, including bias, within and between batch imprecision and linearity.

Key Features:

Commutable, endogenous samples.
Samples targeted at appropriate thresholds for the management of patients with ARI and COPD exacerbations.
Programme assesses both site and method performance, including bias, within and between batch imprecision and linearity.
Scoring based on Milan Model 3 performance specification.