Urine test may detect respiratory conditions in newborns

MOSCOW, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Most diagnostic methods for newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit are invasive, requiring tissue or blood samples. Researchers in Russia report in a new study, however, that urine may be effective for diagnosing respiratory conditions in the youngest of patients.

Testing urine samples for a set of proteins may help improve diagnosis of respiratory conditions in newborns, according a proof-of-concept study published in the Journal of Proteomics.

Respiratory conditions are common in newborns receiving treatment in the ICU, though confusion about new infections or something missed in initial health checks can make them difficult to spot.

In the new study, researchers at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology show conditions such as congenital pneumonia, tachypnea and infant respiratory distress syndrome can be indicated by testing newborn urine for 36 proteins.

"The results [of the study] are optimistic and will serve as a platform to move forward in developing a method of monitoring conditions in newborns," Evgeny Nikolaev, a professor at the Moscow Institute of Physics and head of it's Laboratory of Ionic and Molecular Physics, said in a press release.

For the study, the researchers adapted previous work developing urine-based diagnostics for pregnant women. Winnowing down proteins and peptides in the urine of 37 preterm and 10 full-term newborns by comparing them those found in adults, the researchers identified 36 proteins unique to babies and levels of their presence that indicate a respiratory condition.

"In our pilot study, we succeeded in defining the core urinary proteome and proteins specific for infants and pathological conditions," Nikolaev said. "We are pioneers in the non-invasive identification of urinary biomarkers diagnosing respiratory conditions in newborns."