What is a normal blood GFR level?
Normal eGFR number is 90-120 ml/min – the higher the GFR, the better the kidney function, the better.
What is GFR used for?
The GFR is used to:
- Diagnose CKD
- Monitor – changes in kidney function over time
- Decide – whether you need dialysis or a kidney transplant.
But does is this normal range true?
But, the big but. This number range is so neat, it is clearly made up (wrong) – as are all the CKD stages, as determined by ‘overly neat ranges’ of GFR.
For example CKD3 is said to be 30-59 ml/min (split into two CKD3B, which is ‘worse’ than CKD3A). This is also made up folks [“shush, don’t tell the patients!” MyHSN Ed].
To make things even more confusing, we (kidney doctors) invent another arbitrary sub-classification (on the right of the often reproduced diagram above) based on arbitrary amounts of albumin (a protein) in the urine.
The idea is the more albumin the urine, the ‘worse’ (apparently). This puts patients in a table like below. All made up, again, folks. Sorry. But its the best we can do.
How is the CKD stage described?
According to the stage of CKD and amount of albuminuria.
Example. ‘Stage CKD G4A3’ means Stage CKD4 with A3 level of albuminuria.
[“Mm. Bet the patients dont understand this kidney lingo (no they don’t actually). We should be better at explaining it in simple terms (yes).” MyHSN Ed]
Summary
We have described what is a normal blood GFR level. We hope it has been helpful.
Other resource
What is normal human GFR? (with more information about problems with the GFR test)
