The body is a seriously complicated system. Food, air and other inputs come in, then are processed into waste and expelled through the body. One of these waste products is known as creatinine. This waste product comes from the muscles of the body. It’s naturally occurring and is produced gradually as the muscles.
In most cases, the kidneys are the key to processing and removing waste products from the body so they can be expelled. However, if the kidneys aren’t functioning at an optimal level, that means that it’s possible for waste products to continue to grow in the body and bloodstream. Obviously this is not an ideal scenario. They are waste products for a reason and need to be removed.
Why is Creatinine Testing Done
Quite simply, testing the body’s creatinine is done to help determine kidney health. While it’s not the only potential sign of kidney disease, it’s one that can be seen with fairly simple and non-invasive tests. People who have other signs and symptoms of kidney disease will likely get this test in an attempt to confirm diagnosis. This is also done for people who have disease which already increase the chance of getting kidney disease. Issues like high blood pressure and diabetes are predisposed to getting kidney disease, and as such, regular creatinine tests can help monitor how things are going.
Another reason to take a creatinine test is to monitor the current condition of a kidney. Kidneys that have already been shown to have kidney damage will function as a baseline. Further testing can ensure that things aren’t getting significantly worse in some fashion. This can also be true to test how effective different medications being given are on the kidney and body. Finally, this test is often done after someone has received a kidney transplant. It helps to determine just how well the kidney is doing in the new body.
Creatinine Tests and Processes
The creatinine test may not seem like the most important one at first glance. However, it can be a vital cog in helping to look at kidney health. Creatinine testing is a simple blood test that will measure the levels of creatinine in the body. While that may seem useful, it should be noted that almost everyone has a differing level of “normal” when it comes to creatinine. People’s age, gender, race and other factors can create very different normal levels. That being said, the numbers can be compared against expected levels and past tests as well.
Elevated levels show that the kidney may not be eliminating Creatinine from the body quickly enough. The best test for Creatinine is called the glomerular filtration rate. This calculates in all the factors that might alter the default creatinine levels to help boil it down to a single number.
This usually won’t be the only test needed to check on the kidneys at that point. A urine test will likely also be ordered. This also can measure the creatinine within a body, but it measures the amount that is being expelled through the urine. Specifically it tests the ratio of albumin to creatinine in the urine. This can help show high levels of creatinine and kidney dysfunction.
There’s another series of tests known as creatinine clearance that might be run. This type of test specifically looks at how the kidneys are filtering creatinine for removal. This is actually done through a blood sample and a urine sample during the same time period.