With blood tests you can regularly check your health and check that there are no underlying problems. In fact, with a simple blood sample, it will be possible to check the levels of different parameters that doctors need to understand if everything is okay. With blood tests we do prevention, in order to identify a problem before it gets worse until it makes us feel really bad. Among the values that can be checked with blood tests, there is also azotemia and this value is very important for monitoring the health of the kidneys.
What is azotemia
BUN is the measure of the levels of urea present in the blood and indicates the non-protein nitrogen present in the circulation. In fact, nitrogen is an important constituent of our body’s proteins, but also a waste product of protein metabolism. When it needs to be eliminated, nitrogen is converted into urea in the liver and this is filtered by the kidneys and eliminated in the urine.
Sometimes, however, it can happen that the azotemia has values that do not fall within the normal and physiological ones. In such cases, you need to see your doctor as soon as possible. In fact, altered azotemia values can indicate various health problems, more or less serious.
That’s why ignoring this blood test value can cause serious kidney problems
Since the kidneys are responsible for filtering the blood and allowing the elimination of urea, if there are kidney problems, the blood urea may change. In fact, elevated BUN levels can indicate kidney failure. Precisely for this reason, the control of azotemia is very useful in subjects suffering from renal insufficiency or on dialysis.
However, these are not the only cases in which these values should be checked. Since science provides us with important prevention tools such as blood tests, it is good for everyone to do them regularly. In fact, experts recommend carrying out a complete check up at least once a year to check that everything is in order. In this way, if there were minimal alterations, we could intervene in time. And that’s why ignoring this value in blood tests can cause serious kidney problems.
Therefore, there are three cases in which to check the levels of azotemia:
- if you have known kidney problems;
- if kidney problems are suspected: for example, if you have symptoms such as abnormal urine, frequent urge to urinate, joint or bone pain. Logically, these are generic symptoms and for this it will be the doctor to determine whether or not the kidneys may be affected;
- for a complete check-up about once a year: because prevention is always the best cure.
Here, then, is why it is important to know the meaning of this value and never ignore it.
Deepening
Few people know what this fundamental value for health is and what it indicates.