Why Do Some Diabetics Have High Creatinine Level

Diabetes is an illness about high blood sugar in blood, but why in some cases, lab tests show high level of creatinine in the blood? Here, in this article we mainly explain in the following three aspects:

1. What does high creatinine level mean?

High creatinine level usually implies kidney problem. Creatinine is the substance that needs to be removed out of the body through kidney, and when there is something wrong with kidney, creatinine level in blood goes up. In medicine, creatinine level in blood is usually measured to reflect how well the kidney function.

2. How is Diabetes linked with high creatinine level?

People with Diabetes are more likely to have high creatinine level, because diabetes is the number one cause of kidney problem. Diabetes is marked by high blood sugar level. When lots of sugar exist in blood, kidney have to work hard to produce more urine, so as to get excessive sugar out of the body through urine. Under such a condition, lab test will show high GFR (Glomerular Filtration Rate), which means kidneys are doing much more work then they should. Long-term heavy burden damage kidney, leading to decline of kidney function. Under such a circumstance, if patients do tests, test report will show low GFR, which means kidney function has been impaired and they can not work as well as they did before. Kidney is in charge of maintaining electrolyte balance, so when kidney function is impaired, serum creatinine level in blood increases.

3. Is high creatinine level an certainty for diabetics?

Diabetes is the number one cause of kidney failure, but it does not mean all the diabetic will finally end up with kidney failure. In medicine, kidney problem caused by Diabetes is called Diabetic Nephropathy which appears easily among people who have lived with Diabetes for more than 10 years. Also, the longer time that people suffer from Diabetes, the higher the morbidity of Diabetic Nephropathy.

Diabetic Nephropathy is a complication of Diabetes and if we want to bring it under control tightly, both treatment for diabetes and kidney damages are very important.