Stability of steroid hormones in dried blood spots (DBS)

Abstract

Abstract Objectives Steroid hormone levels of patients may be monitored via dried blood spot (DBS) sampling at home. Stability of steroid hormones in DBS samples, however, needs to be established. Methods DBS samples from healthy volunteers were collected and stored at various temperatures. Steroid hormone concentrations in DBS were measured directly, at day 2, day 7 and day 14 following storage at 37 °C and after 7 days, 14 days, 3 months and 6 months following storage at −20 °C, 4 °C and room temperature (RT). Cortisol, cortisone, corticosterone, testosterone, androstenedione, and 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP) were assessed using LC-MS/MS. Results All steroids were stable (±15 %) up to 14 days when stored at 37 °C, except for cortisone (only stable until 2 days). All steroids were stable up to 6 months when stored at −20 °C, 4 °C and RT. However, there were some exceptions, for androstenedione at RT (only stable until 7 days), for 17-OHP when stored at −20 °C (only stable until 3 months), for cortisone at RT and 4 °C (only stable until 14 days), and cortisol at RT (only stable until 3 months). Conclusions Overall, we demonstrated stability of steroid hormone concentrations in DBS under various conditions which may be encountered during shipping to the diagnostic laboratory and during long-term storage before analysis.