Kidney Function Tests: Why They Matter for Your Health
Introduction
Your kidneys continually work around the clock and perform many important tasks that allow you to stay healthy. They filterwaste from your blood, remove excess fluid from your body, regulate sodium and potassium levels, regulate fluid levels in your body, control blood pressure, help bones grow and produce red blood cells (RBCs). Although these functions are very important, many people with kidney diseases do not know that they have them until they already have significant damage.
Kidney Function Tests provide critical information to help doctors determine whether you are at risk of developing serious kidney problems before they occur. Therefore, you can monitor how well the kidneys are performing and determine if any issues with your kidneys would affect your long-term health. If you have diabetes, high blood pressure, a relative with kidney disease, or simply want to maintain good health, you need to be knowledgeable about Kidney Function Tests to help you keep your body healthy.
Table of Content:
- Introduction
- What Are Kidney Function Tests?
- Why Are Healthy Kidneys So Important?
Understanding the Key Parts of a Kidney Function Test
Who Should Consider Kidney Function Testing?
Symptoms That Should Not Be Ignored
Benefits of Early Detection
- Is Your Lifestyle a Shield Against Kidney Problems?
- How to Read Your Test Results
- Conclusion
What Are Kidney Function Tests?
A Kidney Function Test is a collection of blood and urine laboratory tests used to assess how well the body is filtering and maintaining a balanced chemical composition through the kidneys. The most commonly ordered blood tests included in a Kidney Function Test are:
- Serum Creatinine
- Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN or Urea)
- Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR)
- Electrolytes of the body
Your doctor may also order urine laboratory tests to check for protein, blood, or other abnormalities that would indicate there is damage to the kidneys, depending on your specific symptoms. Each of these tests provides the physician with unique information to assist them in assessing your kidney health more accurately.
Why Are Healthy Kidneys So Important?
The Importance of Healthy Kidneys Not only does the body use the kidneys to filter out waste, but they also perform a variety of other important roles. Healthy kidneys help the body do the following:
- Filter toxins from the blood
- Remove excess water from the body
- Maintain normal blood pressure
- Balance electrolytes, including sodium and potassium, in the blood
- Aid in the formation of red blood cells
- Assist with the health of bones through activation of vitamin D
If the kidneys are functioning normally, and filters for waste products from the body; however, if kidney function is impaired, the waste products will accumulate in the body, affect multiple major organ systems, and may lead to serious health problems.
Understanding the Key Parts of a Kidney Function Test
Serum Creatinine
Creatinine is a by-product of the regular functioning of muscle. Healthy kidneys filter creatinine from the blood.
If creatinine levels are high, the kidneys may not be filtering blood properly. However, there are many different things that affect creatinine levels, including your age, muscle size, how dehydrated you are and whether or not you take certain medications, so the doctor will always interpret this number in context.
Blood Urea
Urea is another waste product created from the breakdown of protein.
High blood urea may be caused by kidney disease, dehydration, consuming a lot of protein or some other medical conditions. Knowing this number will help the doctor to figure out how well your kidneys are working.
Electrolytes
The kidneys help regulate the important minerals sodium, potassium, chloride and bicarbonate.
Abnormal levels of electrolytes can affect the ability of muscles to function, how the heart beats, how the nerves function and how fluids in the body are balanced. It is very important to monitor these values for people with kidney disease or chronic medical conditions that can affect electrolyte balance.
Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR)
The eGFR gives an estimate of how well your kidneys are filtering blood.
In addition to just looking at creatinine, the eGFR takes into account your age and sex to give a better picture of how well your kidneys are working. A lower eGFR could suggest a decrease in the functioning of your kidneys and may require more testing.
Who Should Consider Kidney Function Testing?
Anyone can take advantage of regular health assessments, especially those who have been diagnosed with certain risk factors. These include:
- diabetes
- high blood pressure
- being at least 40 years old
- having a family history of chronic kidney disease
- being overweight/obese
- experiencing recurring episodes of kidney stones
- taking long-term medications for pain relief
- having a history of coronary artery disease.
Having your kidneys tested periodically is beneficial because it allows for the early diagnosis and/or detection of kidney problems, which can lead to early intervention.
Symptoms That Should Not Be Ignored
The majority of the time, there are typically no visible signs of early kidney disease until it has progressed substantially. However, once it has progressed, there may visible signs of disease:
- Oedema (swelling) of the feet and/or ankles
- Chronic fatigue
- Changes in urine output
- Foamy urine
- Blood in the urine
- Decreased appetite/desire to eat
- Nausea
- Inability to focus
- Muscle spasms/leg cramps; and
- Elevated/high blood pressure which is difficult to manage
Some of the above symptoms can have many causes; therefore, any of the above symptoms should be brought to the attention of a medical professional.
Benefits of Early Detection
Physicians learn from the clinical research that preventing a disease through regular health assessments is much easier than treating an already diagnosed patient.
Regardless of the specific cause of the disease, if diagnosed early, many changes in diet, blood pressure management, diabetes management, fluid intake/hydration levels, and/or medications can help slow and possibly eliminate the progression of kidney disease.
Those who wait until they are experiencing severe kidney disease symptoms typically have fewer options for treatment and/or the ability to successfully treat their kidney disease.
Is Your Lifestyle a Shield Against Kidney Problems?
- Drink enough water unless otherwise specified by your physician
- Maintain controllable diabetes
- Keep blood pressure in check.
- Choose to exercise every day.
- Keep obesity under control.
- Avoid too much sodium in your diet.
- Do not smoke cigarettes or use any tobacco product.
- Avoid excessive use of pain medications.
- Eat a well-balanced diet that includes fruits, vegetables and whole-grain foods.
How to Read Your Test Results
It is not uncommon to feel some concern if you see an abnormal value on your kidney function test report; however, an isolated abnormal result does not automatically indicate kidney disease.
When doctors read kidney function tests, they will take into account the following:
- Your medical history
- Any medications you are currently taking
- Your blood pressure
- The level of sugar in your blood
- How hydrated you are
- Your results from urine tests
- Additional tests like imaging (e.g., ultrasound) as required
Sometimes, all that is needed to make a diagnosis are repeated tests. At other times, additional types of exam may be necessary to find the root cause of the problem.
Conclusion
Although every minute of every day your kidneys are doing important tasks, many people do not know there is a problem until their kidney disease has progressed significantly. Kidney Function Tests offer such easy but effective means of monitoring your kidney health to identify issues early on and enabling prompt treatment.
Regular screening of kidney function is critically important for those with diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and/or a family history of kidney disease. Knowing what your results mean can enable you to make educated decisions about your lifestyle and future health.
Sikund Diagnostic provides comprehensive assessments of Kidney Functions through effective laboratory testing techniques along with accurate reporting for the consideration of early diagnosis and preventive medicine. Caring for your kidneys today, will assist you in maintaining your overall health long after you have left our facility.
