The recently-developed mobile phone application could make monitoring conditions such as diabetes, kidney disease, and urinary tract infections much clearer and easier for both patients and doctors, and could eventually be used to slow or limit the spread of pandemics in the developing world.
The app, developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, accurately measures colour-based, or colorimetric, tests for use in home, clinical or remote settings, and enables the transmission of medical data from patients directly to health professionals.
The new app, Colorimetrix, makes accurate reading of colorimetric tests much easier, using nothing more than a mobile phone.
The app uses the phone's camera and an algorithm to convert data from colorimetric tests into a numerical concentration value on the phone's screen within a few seconds.
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After testing urine, saliva or other bodily fluid with a colorimetric test, the user simply takes a picture of the test with their phone's camera.
The result can then be stored, sent to a health-care professional, or directly analysed by the phone for diagnosis.
The app can be used in home, clinical, or resource-limited settings, and is available for both Android and iOS operating systems, researchers said.
It has been shown to accurately report glucose, protein and pH concentrations from commercially-available urine test strips without requiring any external hardware, the first time that a mobile phone app has been used in this way in a laboratory setting.
"This app has the potential to help in the fight against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in the developing world, bringing the concept of mobile health-care to reality," said Ali Yetisen, who led the research.
"By quickly getting medical data from the field to doctors or centralised laboratories, it may help slow or limit the spread of pandemics," Yetisen said.
The finding is published in the journal Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical.