Selection of Single-Analyte Delta Check Rules with Logistic Regression for Detection of Intravenous Fluid Contamination in a Clinical Chemistry Laboratory

Abstract Background The conventional single-analyte delta check, utilized for identifying intravenous fluid contamination and other preanalytical errors, is known to flag many specimens reflecting true patient status changes. This study aimed to derive delta check rules that more accurately identify contamination. Methods Results for calcium, creatinine, glucose, sodium, and potassium were retrieved from 326 103 basic or comprehensive metabolic panels tested between February 2021 and January 2022. In total, 7934 specimens showed substantial result changes, of which 1489 were labeled as either contaminated or non-contaminated based on chart review. These labeled specimens were used to derive logistic regression models and to select the most predictive single-analyte delta checks for 4 common contaminants. Their collective performance was evaluated using a test data set from October 2023 comprising 14 717 specimens. Results The most predictive single-analyte delta checks included a calcium change by ≤−24% for both saline and Plasma-Lyte A contamination, a potassium increase by ≥3.0 mmol/L for potassium contamination, and a glucose increase by ≥400 mg/dL (22.2 mmol/L) for dextrose contamination. In the training data sets, multi-analyte logistic regression models performed better than single-analyte delta checks. In the test data set, logistic regression models and single-analyte delta checks demonstrated collective alert rates of 0.58% (95% CI, 0.46%–0.71%) and 0.60% (95% CI, 0.49%–0.74%), respectively, along with collective positive predictive values of 79% (95% CI, 70%–89%) and 77% (95% CI, 68%–87%). Conclusions Single-analyte delta checks selected by logistic regression demonstrated a low false alert rate.