eGFR, your kidney filtering rate Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR)
A score for how fast your kidneys clean your blood.
Also printed aseGFR · GFR · Estimated GFR · eGFR (CKD-EPI) · eGFR (MDRD)
What it measures
An estimate, calculated from your creatinine, age and sex, of how much blood your kidneys clean each minute.
The number that stages kidney health and decides the safe dose of many common medicines.
Why it matters for how long you stay well
Kidney function you keep into your seventies protects your heart, your bones and your medicines list. One low reading is not kidney disease; a level that stays low for three months or more is what counts.
How it shows up in daily life
You will feel nothing until it is very low, which is exactly why it is tested when you feel fine.
High and low readings
When it reads high
Above 90 is the expected range for a healthy adult.
When it reads low
Filtering below the level expected for your age; a repeat and a urine protein test come before any conclusion.
What moves it
Daily life
- blood pressure over the years
- blood sugar over the years
- how much water you drink
- how much muscle you carry, which makes it read lower on paper
Medicines known to shift it
- NSAIDs (can lower it)
- blood-pressure medicines (can lower it briefly)
- diuretics (can lower it)
Listed so a result can be read in context. It is not advice to start, stop or change any medicine; that decision belongs with your physician.
Read it with
Markers that move this one, or that this one moves. One number read alone can mislead.
- Creatinine, the kidney filter checkKnown mechanism
Creatinine is part of its calculation
Your filtering rate was never measured. It is your creatinine put through a formula with your age and sex, which is why muscle changes it on paper.
- Urine albumin, correctedObserved association
Urine albumin moves with it
Albumin appearing in urine is the early warning, and a falling filtering rate is the later one. That is why the two together stage your kidneys, not either alone.
- Uric acidKnown mechanism
As this rises, Uric acid falls as it rises
Your kidneys are what clears uric acid out of the blood. As filtering slows, uric acid backs up for reasons that have nothing to do with your plate.
- LipaseKnown mechanism
As this rises, Lipase falls as it rises
Lipase is cleared by your kidneys too. So slower filtering can lift a pancreas enzyme with nothing whatever wrong in the pancreas itself.
- Three-month sugar averageKnown mechanism
As this rises, Three-month sugar average can be misread because of it
Reduced kidney function changes how long red cells survive. Since the three-month average is measured on those cells, it drifts away from the truth.
Common questions
What does Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate measure?
An estimate, calculated from your creatinine, age and sex, of how much blood your kidneys clean each minute. The number that stages kidney health and decides the safe dose of many common medicines.
What does a high eGFR result usually mean?
Above 90 is the expected range for a healthy adult.
What does a low eGFR result usually mean?
Filtering below the level expected for your age; a repeat and a urine protein test come before any conclusion.
What is the usual reference range for eGFR?
A broad adult reference band is 90–140 mL/min/1.73m². Labs differ, so read your result against the band printed on your own report.
Educational only, not a diagnosis. A single number means little without your history and the rest of your panel, so discuss your own results with your physician.
Typical adult reference band
- Adults
- 90–140 mL/min/1.73m²
Labs differ. The band printed on your own report is the one that applies to your result.
Reported in mL/min/1.73m², ml/min/1.73m2
Ageing relevance
4/5
A strong independent predictor of illness and mortality in large cohorts.
Worth knowing
It is not measured at all. It is your creatinine put through a formula together with your age and sex.
Have a report with this marker on it? Read it in context.
Upload it to Oraia, our health-intelligence tool, for a plain-language read of your markers that a Genoryx doctor can review.
Your biological age is a number you can measure.
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