Blood Tests for Kidney Health

A healthy kidney’s job is to eliminate wastes and harmful substances from the blood. Blood and urine tests are the performance meters of a healthy kidney. The abnormal amount of certain wastes in the blood reveals there is something wrong with the kidney’s efficacy. Following are the type of blood tests that we use as a parameter to judge your kidney function:

• Serum creatinine

Creatinine is a chemical waste or a by-product of muscle metabolism. The waste that gets produced with the wear and tear of the muscles stays in your blood for the elimination by your kidneys. Creatinine level in the blood varies according to the gender and the physical work you do. As kidney diseases progress this level increases in the blood. A creatinine level in a healthy woman should not be more than 1.1 while in a man it should not exceed 1.2.

• Estimated Glomerular filtration rate

To know how well your renal is working, doctors usually ask for an eGFR count. It is calculated on the basis of serum creatinine, age, and gender. Normal GFR can vary according to your age, but the adequate level in the body should not be less than 90. As eGFR decreases, your kidney function starts to deteriorate, even to an extent of 15 or less, it signifies a complete failure of your kidneys.

• Blood urea nitrogen

Urea nitrogen produces with the breakdown of proteins in the food you consume. When healthy kidneys lose their ability to filter, the BUN level rises. Note that the normal range of BUN is somewhere between 7 and 20.