Does A Creatinine Level Of 173 Indicate Kidney Failure?

Posted on Sun, 9 Nov 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 9 Nov 2014 Answered on

Tue, 25 Nov 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : If an elderly patient has a creatinine level of 173 umol/L, an estimated GFR of 34 and a urea level of 27.0 mmol/L then is the patient best classified as having moderate kidney failure or severe kidney failure?

Answered by Dr. Vivek Chail (21 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Moderate kidney failure stage 3b.

Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX,
Thanks for writing in to us.

I have read through your query in detail.
Creatinine level 173 umol/ L is 1.9 mg/ dl and is elevated
Urea level 17.0 mmol/ L is 75 mg/ dl and is elevated.
The eGFR (estimated glomerular filtration rate) is a number based on the blood test for creatinine and at 34 this shows stage 3b chronic kidney disease.

Stage 3b chronic kidney disease indicated moderately reduced kidney function.
Stage 5 is considered end stage renal disease.

Hope this answers your question. Please feel free to correct any oversight in my interpretation of your problems and discuss them in detail as per your requirements.

Hope your query is answered.
Do write back if you have any doubts.

Regards,
Dr.Vivek

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar