Urea Nitrogen Is 8mmol/L
Urea nitrogen is a common standard to judge patients’ kidney condition. While some patients may find their urea nitrogen level is 8mmol/L, and it is necessary for them to know what it means.
What can we know from urea nitrogen?
Nitrogen is one of the major metabolic products of protein. As we know, protein mainly consists of amino acid, and NH3 and CO2 can be produced when amino is broken down from amino acid. While NH3 and CO2 can be combined and form urea in liver, which will produce urea. One gram of protein can produce about 0.3g urea, and the nitrogen content in urea is about 28/60, almost half. Thereby, the amount of produced urea nitrogen is large.
There are some differences between urea nitrogen and creatinine. Creatinine is a toxic substance and almost all produced creatinine will be excreted out in the same day. While urea nitrogen is a metabolic waste, and some will be reabsorbed back to blood by kidney tubules.
What does it mean when urea nitrogen level is 8mmol/L?
Urea nitrogen is always being produced in our liver, and it is alway being excreted out by our kidneys. The normal level of urea nitrogen is 3.2~7.1mmol/L, so if patients have a level of 8mmol/L, they may think it is just a little higher.
In fact, our kidneys have strong compensation. If one part of our kidney is damaged, other part will replace it to complete their work. As long as more than half kidney function is normal, there would not be any problem caused by kidney damage. That is to say, when patients have a 8mmol/L urea nitrogen level, more than half kidney function is damaged, and patients are in a severe condition.
Thereby, kidney disease patients already have severe kidney damage if their urea nitrogen level is 8mmol/L, so they should see a doctor as soon as possible.
Tag: High BUN Level
previous：What Does Blood Urea Nitrogen 9 Mean
