Creatinine test urine is normally performed as a part of the comprehensive metabolic panel or the basic metabolic panel (BMP or CMP) tests, which are done to test the functioning of the major organs of the body like liver, kidney etcetera. Creatinine clearance test is performed in most cases in association with BUN (blood, urea, nitrogen), which is a part of the kidney function tests.

The reference range for creatinine is 0.9 to 1.3 mg/dL in men and 0.6 to 1.1 mg/dL in women. A high level of creatinine is indicative of conditions that might affect the kidney functioning, which can include conditions like glomerulonephritis, autoimmune disease, pyelonephritis, acute tubular necrosis, or complications due to CHF, atherosclerosis or diabetes.

A high level of creatinine is also possible due to the damage of the death of cells in the kidneys, a condition called acute tubular necrosis, which can be caused by some drugs and toxins; however, there are some other drugs like cephalosporin’s, which can cause increase in creatinine levels without causing any kidney damage.

Creatinine test urine is recommended for those that are taking drugs on a regular basis, the helps to monitor any possible damages that the drugs could cause to the kidney.

Low levels of creatinine are quite rare and are liable to be found in cases of pregnancy; if there are low levels of creatinine in the urine below the lower range of normal, it might be due to some detoxification practices like flushing in lot of liquids to remove excess toxins from the body. Excessive drinking of water is a flushing technique adopted by some people to flush toxins and abusive drugs out of their body. When too much of water is drunk by a person, it causes the flushing of drugs and also it causes low levels of creatinine because even the creatinine gets washed away with the urine like any other drug, thus leading to low levels of creatinine in the urine.

Specimen adulteration testing uses creatinine level as a criterion along with other parameters like pH, specific gravity etcetera for specimen validity testing. A specimen validity test plays a major role in ensuring that the sample that is being tested is a genuine one and not a sample that has been diluted or adulterated.

Call toll free 1-888-237-3445 or write to info@drugalcoholtest.com to know more about FDA approved ‘510K’ cleared specimen validity methods.