Ask,
Understand,
and Educate.
Providing healthcare professionals (HCPs) with education on biotin.
As you are likely aware, there has been the potential for increased usage of biotin over the past few years. Biotin can be found in a variety of supplements, (e.g., multi-vitamins and hair, skin, and nail supplements).
Biotin, also called vitamin B7 or vitamin H, is a water-soluble vitamin of the B complex.
Despite the lack of clinical evidence, high-concentration biotin supplements are being sold over-the-counter, promising to promote hair, skin and nail health. As all laboratory testing is susceptible to interferences, biotin is one of the many supplements with the potential to interfere with results.
The following categories characterize the typical consumer biotin dosing levels.There are three dosing categories outlined in the infographic below illustrating the amount of biotin each dose contains (mcg):
mcg/day
No recommended daily intake (RDI) exists, as deficiencies are rare
mcg/day
More than 125 times the suggested intake
mcg/day
Doctor-directed for specific patient populations
Streptavidin and biotin naturally form a strong, highly specific, stable bond. This design has been used by many in-vitro diagnostic manufacturers to create sensitive, accurate immunoassays.
Roche takes pride in our immunoassay design, with its foundation of a streptavidin — biotin interaction, enabling clinical confidence in results.
This trusted design offers features you require with your in-vitro diagnostics solutions to confidently test patients such as:
In this example, biotin is ingested before the typical patient arrives at the ED (studies indicate patients go to the ED within about 3.5-64 hours after symptoms begin). If testing is performed according to the guidelines (baseline and 3-6 hours) biotin levels will have significantly decreased by the 3 hour time point and not mask the rise in troponin. Also between the baseline and 3 hour time points (where the Negative Predictive Value (NPV) of Troponin T Gen 5 is 99.7%,) the troponin kinetics will show arise above the 99th percentile represented by the heart symbol.
So a quick elimination of the biotin and serial testing mitigates risk.
Educational fact sheet for physicians about biotin that includes questions to ask your patients
Printable PDF with pre-testing information given to patients in advance of blood draws
Two posters to help build awareness about reporting all OTC, supplement and RX use
Providing education around Roche assays and potential biotin interference, as well as best practice sharing for your institution.
Dr. Ursula Klause, Roche Diagnostics
Dr. Nam Tran, UC Davis
