Contents:
- Medical Video: Stages of Kidney Disease
- What is the purpose of the creatinine test?
- What does it mean if the creatinine test results are high?
- What causes high creatinine levels?
Medical Video: Stages of Kidney Disease
The human body is composed of various organs, cells, and substances that are related to one another. One substance that has an important role in the body's metabolism is creatinine. Unfortunately, creatinine levels in the body are not always balanced. You need to do a creatinine test to assess how much is in the blood. Then, if it turns out the creatinine test shows high results, what does that mean?
What is the purpose of the creatinine test?
Creatinine is a chemical waste product from muscle metabolism used during contractions. Creatinine is produced by creatine, which is an important molecule in the muscle that is responsible for producing energy.
Before being released from the body through urine, creatine must be filtered first by the kidneys. However, the kidneys are not always in top condition to carry out their duties. If this happens, then creatinine levels can increase and accumulate in the blood which triggers various problems in the body.
That's why creatinine testing is needed to ascertain the amount of creatinine in the blood, while also showing how well the kidneys work, especially the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in filtering out residual substances in the body. This GFR assessment can be used as an indicator in measuring overall kidney function.
Monitoring creatinine levels through tests, whether using blood or urine samples, is also useful as an important benchmark for diagnosing chronic kidney disease or other disorders of the kidneys. Because not everyone shows signs and symptoms of kidney disease.
What does it mean if the creatinine test results are high?
Measurement of creatinine tests can be said to be a reflection of the body's metabolic processes in general. Because body muscle mass tends to be the same every day, creatinine levels are relatively the same and do not change.
Reporting from Medicine Net page, the range of normal creatinine levels for adult men is around 0.6-1.2 milligrams / deciliter (mg / dL), while 0.5-1.1 mg / dL for adult women. Everyone has different creatinine levels, depending on their age and muscle mass. That is why the amount of creatinine in men is generally higher than that of women.
If your creatinine test results are high, it does not always mean that kidney function is being disrupted. Because, there are several conditions that can increase the amount of creatinine in the body for a while. For example, when you are dehydrated, your blood volume is low, you eat too much meat protein, and you regularly drink certain types of drugs.
However, if high creatinine levels last for a long time to reach 5 mg / dL or more. That means something is wrong with your kidney organ. For more convincing results, your doctor may recommend further creatinine testing.
What causes high creatinine levels?
Most cases of elevated severe creatinine levels in the blood are triggered by the appearance of kidney problems. Chronic kidney disease will make it difficult for the kidneys to filter creatinine.
In addition, kidney swelling (hydronephrosis) which causes the kidneys to fail to drain urine into the bladder, can also make high creatinine levels. Kidney swelling usually occurs due to a blocked urinary tract such as due to an enlarged prostate or the presence of kidney stones. Finally, kidney function is disrupted and makes urine flow back to the kidneys.
Severe dehydration can also be a risk factor for kidney problems, which will affect the body's creatinine levels. In addition, exercise that is too hard for a long time will trigger the production of excess energy in the muscles. Indirectly, it will increase muscle mass and creatinine amount. The new creatinine level will return to normal within a few hours after exercising.
Keep in mind, damaged kidney function is not a trivial problem. It is important to always control things that can further damage the kidneys. Proper treatment can at least prevent further kidney damage.
