A creatinine test reveals important information about your kidneys.
Creatinine is a chemical waste product of creatine, an amino acid made by the liver and stored in the liver. Creatinine is the result of normal muscle metabolism. The chemical enters your bloodstream after it’s broken down. Your kidneys remove it from your blood. The creatinine then exits the body through urination.
This test can find out whether your kidneys are working normally or to see if treatment for kidney disease is working. The creatinine in your urine can vary a lot based on diet, exercise, and hydration levels, so a spot check is not as helpful and hence one can do a 24hr volume test. For this test urine is collected numerous times during one day (waking, morning, afternoon, night) to get a good indication of how the creatinine levels fluctuate over one whole day.
If test results are abnormal, other tests will be done to make a specific diagnosis.
Low levels of creatinine in the urine may point to a kidney disease, certain muscular and neuromuscular disorders, or a blockage in the urinary tract.
Low creatinine levels can be caused by:
- A muscle disease (ex.: muscular dystrophy.)
- A liver disease. Poor liver function interferes with creatine production, which can cause low creatinine.
- Excess water loss. Pregnancy, excess water intake, and certain medications can cause this.
Since the breakdown of muscle tissue produces creatinine, low levels of this chemical waste often occurs in people with low muscle mass. This, however, doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a medical problem.
A reduction in muscle mass is common in older individuals, as most people lose muscle mass as they age. Low muscle mass can also result from malnutrition, or from eating a low-meat or low-protein diet.
Understand and improve your laboratory results with our health dashboard.
Upload your lab reports and get interpretation today.
Our technology helps to understand, combine, track, organize, and act on your medical lab test results.
Higher levels may mean that you have kidney disease.
Possible causes of a higher creatinine level include:
- kidney damage
- kidney failure
- kidney infection
- decreased blood flow to the kidneys
- dehydration
If you have high creatinine levels, symptoms may include:
- nausea
- vomiting
- fatigue
- changes in urination
- high blood pressure
- chest pains
- muscle cramps
When creatinine begins to accumulate in the body, doctors have to run tests to check for kidney problems.
Interpret Your Lab Results
Upload your lab report and we’ll interpret and provide you with recomendations today.
Get StartedGet Started With Our Personal Plan
Advanced Plan
Unlimited Plan
Are You a Health Professional?
Get started with our professional plan
Welcome to Healthmatters Pro.
Save time on interpreting lab results with the largest database of biomarkers online. In-depth research on any test at your fingertips, all stored and tracked in one place. Learn more
Pro Plan
for health professionals
$45 per month
At HealthMatters, we're committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your personal information. We've put industry-leading security standards in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information under our control. We use procedural, physical, and electronic security methods designed to prevent unauthorized people from getting access to this information. Our internal code of conduct adds additional privacy protection. All data is backed up multiple times a day and encrypted using SSL certificates. See our Privacy Policy for more details.
Albumin, Urine, Alpha-1-Globulin, Urine, Alpha-2-Globulin, Urine, Arsenic (Inorganic), Urine, Arsenic (Total), Urine, Arsenic, Urine 24 Hr, Bacteria, Beta Globulin, Urine, Bilirubin, Urine, Cadmium, Urine, Calcium Oxalate Crystals, Calcium, Urine, Calcium, Urine 24hr, Chloride, Urine, Coproporphyrin I, Coproporphyrin III, Creatinine (CRT), Urine, Creatinine, Ur 24hr, Gamma Globulin, Urine, Glucose Qualitative, Urine, Heptacarboxyporphyrin, Hexacarboxyporphyrin, Hyaline Cast, IODINE, RANDOM URINE, Ketones, Urine, Lead, Urine, Leukocyte Esterase, Urine, M-Spike (Urine), Mercury, Urine, Mercury, Urine 24 Hr, Mercury/Creatinine Ratio, Urine, Mucous, Nitrite, Urine, Pentacarboxyporphyrin, Porphyrins, Potassium, Urine, Protein, 24hr calculated (Urine), Red Blood Cells (RBC), Urine, Sodium, Urine, Squamous Epithelial Cells, Total Porphyrins, Total Protein, Urine, Tripelphosphates, urine qualitative, Urine Occult Blood, Urine pH, Urine Specific Gravity, Urobilinogen Bilirubin, Urine, Uroporphyrin I, Uroporphyrin III, White Blood Cells (WBC), Urine