What is Urea Nitrogen?
Nitrogen content in blood urea is called urea nitrogen which is the residue
of protein in body. In Physiology, it is the same with urea. Based on Ammonia
and carbon dioxide formed by amino acid, urea nitrogen is produced in liver.
Healthy value of urea nitrogen:
After filtrated by kidney glomerulus, urea nitrogen is excreted to urine. If
kidney excreting function declines, urea nitrogen concentration in blood will
increase. For this reason, urea nitrogen is usually considered as an important
index of judging kidney function. The normal value of urea nitrogen should be in
the range of 8-23mg/dl.
Sometimes, test result can change due to diet. For example, when glomerular
filtration rate is 50% to 60% and there is a 120g high-quality protein intake,
urea nitrogen can become 35mg/gl.
Urea nitrogen content of male may be higher than female who can have higher
value before menstrual cycle and lower value in late stage of pregnancy. New
born baby has the lowest value within 5 months after birth and the value will
approach to adult value at the age of 1 to 6. When people is older than 50 years
old, their urea nitrogen increases with age, which may mainly caused by renal
function decline and general body fluid decrease which can affect kidney blood
flow.
Besides, high urea nitrogen also appears after physical exercise,
diarrhea, vomiting and fever. 20to 25mg/dl is a standard range. If the test
result is out of this value, other points should be involved, including
dehydration, fever, anemia or daily medicine intake. Under such condition,
people should have a secondary test some days later. Meanwhile, other tests,
like urine protein, urinary sediment as well as creatinine, etc, should be taken
as reference tests.
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