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Creatinine
Creatinine is a breakdown product of creatine phosphate in muscle, and
is usually produced at a fairly constant rate by the body (depending
on muscle mass). It is filtered by the kidney. If the filtering of the
kidney is deficient, blood levels rise. This effect is used as an
indicator of renal function.
Measuring serum creatinine is a simple test and it is the most
commonly used indicator of renal function. It should be remembered
that rise in blood creatinine levels is observed only with marked
damage to functioning nephrons; therefore this test is not suitable
for detecting early kidney disease. A better estimation of kidney
function is given by the creatinine clearance test, which, however, is
less convenient and unsuitable as a screening test because it requires
the collection of urine over 24 hours.
Reference range
The reference range for creatinine is 50
to 110 μmol/L (0.8 - 1.4 mg/dl).
Men tend to have higher levels of creatinine because they have more
skeletal muscle than women.
Serum creatinine is not affected by diet or activity level.
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