Creatinine and eGFR: How Kidney Function Is Estimated and What the Numbers Mean

A friend texted me a screenshot last month: a lab result in her patient portal, one line highlighted in amber. “eGFR 58,” it read, then a bracket saying “low.” She is 61, walks five miles a day, and had never heard the acronym. She spent the evening reading forums that promised her kidneys were failing. They were not.

Her experience is why this test is trending. Since United States laboratories adopted a race-free equation for calculating eGFR in 2021, and since international guidelines updated in March 2024 pushed for wider use of a second marker called cystatin C, more people are seeing kidney numbers flagged for the first time. Add the January 2025 approval of semaglutide (Ozempic) for kidney disease in people with type 2 diabetes, and kidney function has become dinner-table conversation.

As of this writing in 2025, the searches are pouring in: what is normal, what is low, what can be done. Here is the evidence, without the alarm.

What is eGFR, and why does a blood test estimate it?

Your kidneys contain roughly a million tiny filtering units each, called glomeruli. A glomerulus is a knot of capillaries that strains waste and excess water out of the blood while holding back proteins and cells. The volume of fluid all of them filter in a minute is the glomerular filtration rate, or GFR, and it is the single best summary of how well the kidneys are working.

Measuring GFR directly is awkward. It requires injecting a tracer substance, then sampling blood or urine over several hours to see how quickly the kidneys clear it. Research centers do this; routine clinics do not. So laboratories estimate it instead, which is where the “e” in eGFR comes from.

The estimate rests on creatinine, a waste product that muscles release at a fairly steady pace as they use energy. Healthy kidneys remove creatinine from blood almost as fast as muscles make it. If filtering slows, creatinine piles up. Plug the blood creatinine level into an equation alongside age and sex, and you get a number expressed in milliliters per minute per 1.73 square meters of body surface, written mL/min/1.73 m².

The unit sounds fussy, but it makes the value comparable between a small woman and a large man. Think of it as filtering capacity per “standard-sized” person.

What eGFR cannot tell you is why the filters are slower, or whether they are leaking. Those questions need other tests, which we will get to. For now, hold on to one idea: eGFR is a well-validated estimate, not a direct measurement, and every equation carries a margin of error. Mainstream summaries from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases put that error at roughly 30 percent in either direction for any single result, which matters when a number sits near a threshold.

What changed recently: the equation, the guideline and the new medicines

Three dated developments explain why eGFR keeps surfacing in search and in patient portals.

First, the equation. In September 2021, a joint task force of the National Kidney Foundation and the American Society of Nephrology recommended that laboratories switch to the CKD-EPI 2021 creatinine equation, which removes a race coefficient used in earlier versions. The older formula had assigned Black patients a higher estimate, which could delay a chronic kidney disease diagnosis or transplant referral. Most US labs completed the switch over 2022 and 2023. The practical effect for many people was a modest shift in their number, sometimes enough to move across a stage boundary without any change in their kidneys.

Second, the guideline. Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes, the international body that writes chronic kidney disease guidance, published its updated clinical practice guideline in March 2024. It recommends confirming a creatinine-based eGFR with cystatin C, a second blood marker, whenever a precise value will change a decision, such as diagnosing kidney disease or dosing a medicine.

Third, the medicines. Large randomized trials showed that two drug classes originally developed for diabetes slow the loss of kidney function. Dapagliflozin (Farxiga) earned a kidney indication in 2021 after the DAPA-CKD trial; empagliflozin (Jardiance) followed in 2023 after EMPA-KIDNEY. In January 2025, the US Food and Drug Administration approved semaglutide (Ozempic) to reduce kidney disease progression in adults with type 2 diabetes, based on the FLOW trial.

Together these changes mean more people are being screened, more results are flagged, and more clinicians have something concrete to offer when a number is low. The decision to use any of these medicines belongs with a prescribing clinician who knows the whole picture.

How creatinine levels become an eGFR number

Creatinine comes from creatine, a molecule muscles use to store quick energy. Each day, roughly 1 to 2 percent of the body’s creatine breaks down into creatinine and drifts into the bloodstream, where the kidneys filter it out and pass it into urine. Because production depends on muscle mass, a lean 80-year-old and a muscular 25-year-old can have identical kidney filtering yet very different creatinine levels.

Laboratories report creatinine in milligrams per deciliter. Typical adult reference ranges run about 0.7 to 1.3 mg/dL for men and 0.6 to 1.1 mg/dL for women, according to MedlinePlus, though ranges vary slightly between labs. A value inside that range does not guarantee normal kidneys, and a value just above it does not confirm disease. The raw number needs context.

The equation supplies that context. The CKD-EPI 2021 formula takes creatinine, age and sex and adjusts for the fact that creatinine production falls with age and is lower on average in women. The relationship is not linear. A rise in creatinine from 0.8 to 1.6 mg/dL roughly halves the estimated filtration rate, while a further rise from 1.6 to 2.4 knocks off proportionally less. Small changes at low creatinine levels translate into large swings in eGFR, which is one reason repeat testing matters.

Two more points help when reading a report. Most labs no longer print eGFR values above 90 as exact numbers; they simply write “>90” because the equation is least precise at the healthy end. And many labs flag any value below 60 as abnormal, regardless of age or whether the result is a first or a repeat. That flag is a prompt for a conversation, not a verdict.

What is a normal eGFR level?

A healthy young adult filters about 100 to 130 mL/min/1.73 m². Laboratories and guidelines treat 90 or above as normal filtering. The band from 60 to 89 is officially “mildly decreased,” but on its own it is not kidney disease. Many adults over 60 sit in this range and have perfectly adequate kidney function for their stage of life.

The line that carries clinical weight is 60. Below it, a result that persists for more than three months meets the definition of chronic kidney disease, usually shortened to CKD, which simply means kidney damage or reduced function lasting at least that long. The three-month rule exists because filtration can dip temporarily with dehydration, a stomach bug, heavy exercise or certain medicines and then recover.

Why 60 and not 70 or 50? Large population studies, including the pooled analyses behind the KDIGO staging system, found that the risk of cardiovascular events, hospitalization and progression to kidney failure starts climbing more steeply below that point, independent of age and other risks. It is a pragmatic threshold, not a cliff.

There is a second normal-versus-abnormal question that eGFR alone cannot answer: is albumin leaking into the urine? Albumin is the main protein in blood, and healthy filters keep it out of urine. A urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio, or uACR, below 30 milligrams per gram is normal. Someone with an eGFR of 95 and a uACR of 400 has kidney disease; someone with an eGFR of 75 and a normal uACR at age 70 very likely does not.

So the honest answer to “what is normal” is: 90 and above is normal filtering, 60 to 89 is usually fine when urine albumin is normal and there is no other sign of damage, and below 60 needs confirmation and follow-up.

eGFR stages chart: what each range usually means

Clinicians sort eGFR into six categories, labeled G1 through G5, with G3 split in two. The letters describe filtering only; a full CKD stage also includes the urine albumin category, labeled A1 to A3. The table below shows what each filtering band usually means in practice, drawing on the KDIGO framework as summarized by the NIDDK and Cleveland Clinic.

Category	eGFR (mL/min/1.73 m²)	Description	Typical significance
G1	90 or higher	Normal or high	Kidney disease only if urine albumin is raised or there is other evidence of damage
G2	60 to 89	Mildly decreased	Common with age; disease only if other markers are abnormal
G3a	45 to 59	Mildly to moderately decreased	CKD if persistent; usually managed in primary care with monitoring
G3b	30 to 44	Moderately to severely decreased	Higher risk of complications; closer follow-up, sometimes specialist input
G4	15 to 29	Severely decreased	Specialist care; planning for possible kidney failure treatments
G5	Below 15	Kidney failure	Dialysis or transplant discussed when symptoms or lab changes require

Two cautions. The bands look tidy, but the equation’s error margin means a person whose true GFR is 62 might read 55 on one draw and 68 on the next. Staging should rest on repeated results.

And the urine albumin column changes everything about risk. Guidelines use a color-coded grid in which G3a with normal albumin is moderate risk, while the same eGFR with heavy albumin loss is very high risk. Two people with the same number can face quite different futures, which is why a stage should never be read off a chart in isolation.

Should I worry if my GFR is 56?

Fifty-six lands in G3a, the mildly to moderately decreased band. Whether that is concerning depends on three questions a clinician will ask before anyone worries.

Is it persistent? A single 56 could be dehydration on the day of the draw, a hard workout the evening before, a large steak dinner, or an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory taken for a sore back. Standard practice is to repeat the test after a few weeks, ideally under calmer conditions. If it comes back at 72, the first result was noise. If it stays in the fifties for three months, it counts as CKD.

Is albumin leaking? A uACR under 30 mg/g alongside an eGFR of 56 puts a person in the moderate-risk box of the KDIGO grid. The same eGFR with a uACR above 300 mg/g moves them to very high risk. The urine test is cheap, painless and often the more informative of the two.

How old are you, and what else is going on? At 45, a persistent 56 is a signal worth investigating for a cause. At 80, it may reflect the ordinary loss of filtering units that comes with decades of use, though it still deserves monitoring because it changes how some medicines are handled.

What 56 does not mean: it does not mean kidney failure, dialysis or a shortened life. Population data suggest most people in G3a never progress to kidney failure; the more common risk is cardiovascular, which is why blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar get so much attention in kidney clinics.

So the fair answer is: take it seriously enough to repeat the test and check urine albumin, and let the pattern, not the single number, decide what comes next.

Why eGFR falls with age, and what that does and doesn't mean

Kidneys are not exempt from aging. Studies that measured GFR directly in healthy volunteers found that after about age 40, filtration declines by roughly 1 mL/min/1.73 m² per year on average. Some of that is loss of glomeruli, some is stiffening of the small arteries that feed them. By 75, a person who started at 120 might sit near 85 with no disease whatsoever.

This is why the G2 band, 60 to 89, is described as “mildly decreased” rather than “disease.” Guideline authors debated whether to set age-specific thresholds and decided against it, mainly because the outcome data still show higher cardiovascular risk below 60 at every age. The compromise is that G2 alone, without albumin in the urine or another marker of damage, is not a diagnosis.

A few points help people over 65 read their reports calmly. The equation already accounts for age; it expects lower creatinine production in older adults and adjusts accordingly. A result of 70 at 78 is common and, with a normal urine test, usually needs nothing more than periodic rechecking. Values in the fifties in very old adults are frequent enough that some kidney specialists argue they represent healthy aging, though this remains a matter of expert opinion rather than settled evidence.

What aging does not excuse is a rapid fall. Losing more than 5 mL/min/1.73 m² in a year, or a drop of 25 percent or more between tests, is a change in trajectory that guidelines flag regardless of age. Trend matters more than any single reading, which is another argument for keeping copies of results over time rather than reacting to each one.

What is the most common cause of low eGFR?

Diabetes. Across the United States and most high-income countries, it is the leading cause of chronic kidney disease and of kidney failure requiring dialysis. High blood glucose damages the small vessels of the glomeruli over years, first letting albumin leak, then reducing filtration. Roughly one in three adults with diabetes has some degree of kidney disease, according to CDC estimates.

High blood pressure runs a close second. Sustained pressure damages the same fine vessels and, in a cycle that is hard to break, damaged kidneys make blood pressure harder to control. The two conditions frequently coexist, and together they account for well over half of all cases.

A longer tail of causes follows. Glomerulonephritis is a group of conditions in which the immune system inflames the filters. Polycystic kidney disease is an inherited disorder in which fluid-filled cysts crowd out working tissue. Long-standing blockage from an enlarged prostate or kidney stones, recurrent infections, and years of heavy use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs each contribute a share.

Not every low eGFR reflects chronic disease. Acute kidney injury, a sudden drop in function over hours or days, can follow severe dehydration, a serious infection, a bleed, or certain medicines and contrast dyes. Many episodes recover fully. Distinguishing acute from chronic is one of the first tasks when a low result appears, and it usually comes down to whether previous results exist and how fast the change happened.

The public-health problem is silence. The CDC estimates that about 35.5 million US adults, roughly one in seven, have CKD, and that as many as nine in ten do not know it. Early disease produces no symptoms. The blood and urine tests are the only way to find it, which is why they are recommended routinely for people with diabetes, high blood pressure or a family history of kidney disease.

Why one eGFR result can mislead: creatinine's blind spots

The equation assumes your muscles produce creatinine at an average rate for your age and sex. Whenever that assumption fails, the estimate drifts.

Very muscular people generate more creatinine, so the equation may underestimate their filtering and label a healthy bodybuilder as G2 or even G3a. People with little muscle, including frail older adults, those with limb amputations or neuromuscular conditions, and people with advanced liver disease, produce less creatinine. The equation can overestimate their kidney function, sometimes by a wide margin, which is clinically the more dangerous error because it can lead to overdosing medicines cleared by the kidneys.

Diet nudges the number too. A large portion of cooked meat before a blood draw delivers a bolus of creatinine that can raise the blood level for several hours. Creatine supplements, widely used in gyms, raise creatinine because the body converts extra creatine into extra creatinine; observational studies and small trials have not shown they harm healthy kidneys, but they can lower the eGFR estimate.

Some medicines block creatinine’s secretion into urine without touching filtration. Trimethoprim, an antibiotic, and cimetidine, an older heartburn medicine, are classic examples. Their effect reverses when the medicine stops. Hydration status shifts results in the opposite direction: a dehydrated person concentrates creatinine and reads lower on eGFR.

Pregnancy is a special case. Filtration rises by roughly half in a healthy pregnancy, so creatinine values that look normal on a standard reference range may in fact be high. Standard equations were not built for pregnancy and should be interpreted by an obstetric or kidney clinician.

None of this makes eGFR a bad test. It makes it a test that rewards repetition, context and, when precision matters, a second marker.

Cystatin C and the albumin test: the two numbers that sharpen eGFR

Cystatin C is a small protein that nearly every cell in the body produces at a steady rate, independent of muscle mass. Kidneys filter it freely and reabsorb it completely, so its blood level tracks filtration without the muscle problem that dogs creatinine. An equation using cystatin C alone, or combining it with creatinine, estimates GFR more accurately in most studies, and the combined equation performs best.

The 2024 KDIGO guideline recommends a combined creatinine and cystatin C eGFR whenever a creatinine-only result would drive a consequential decision: confirming a new CKD diagnosis, deciding on a transplant listing, or dosing a medicine with a narrow safety margin. The NIDDK notes that combining the two markers roughly halves the number of people misclassified across the 60 threshold compared with creatinine alone.

Cystatin C has its own confounders, including thyroid disease, high-dose corticosteroids, smoking and obesity, and it remains less widely available than creatinine in routine labs. Whether to order it is a clinical judgment, not a default.

The other number is the urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio. A healthy glomerulus lets almost no albumin through, so even small amounts in urine signal a damaged filter, often years before eGFR drops. A uACR under 30 mg/g is normal, 30 to 300 is moderately increased, and above 300 is severely increased. The test uses a single urine sample, preferably first thing in the morning.

Albumin matters for two reasons. It is the earliest detectable sign of diabetic kidney disease, and it is a strong independent predictor of heart attack and stroke. Guidelines from KDIGO, the American Diabetes Association and the NIDDK all recommend checking it at least yearly in people with diabetes or high blood pressure. Anyone with a flagged eGFR who has never had a uACR should ask about one.

How do you fix low eGFR? What actually slows decline

The honest framing first: filtering units that are scarred do not regrow, so the goal is to protect the ones that remain and slow further loss. “Fix” is the wrong verb. “Stabilize” is achievable for many people.

Blood pressure control has the longest track record. Randomized trials over three decades show that medicines from the ACE inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker families, which relax blood vessels and reduce pressure inside the glomerulus, slow the fall in GFR in people with albumin in their urine, particularly those with diabetes. Guidelines recommend them as first-line treatment in that group; a clinician decides whether and which.

SGLT2 inhibitors changed the field. Dapagliflozin and empagliflozin were tested in trials enrolling people with and without diabetes, and both cut the risk of a substantial eGFR decline or kidney failure by roughly a quarter to a third. The 2024 KDIGO guideline gives them its strongest recommendation for most adults with CKD and reduced eGFR or raised albumin. The GLP-1 receptor agonist semaglutide showed a similar-sized benefit in FLOW, in people with type 2 diabetes.

Blood glucose control in diabetes, stopping smoking, and avoiding regular use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory painkillers all have supporting evidence, though of mixed quality. Dietary sodium reduction lowers blood pressure and albumin in trials. The evidence on protein restriction is weaker and its effects modest; guidelines suggest avoiding very high intakes rather than adopting a low-protein diet without supervision.

What does not help: flushing the kidneys with extra water beyond normal thirst, kidney “cleanses,” and most supplements marketed for kidney health. None has randomized evidence of improving eGFR, and some herbal products are themselves associated with kidney injury.

Every one of these choices, including whether to start or stop any medicine, sits with the treating clinician.

What the evidence actually says, graded by strength

Not all claims about eGFR carry the same weight. Here is how the main ones stack up.

Strong evidence from randomized trials. Blood pressure lowering with renin-angiotensin blockers slows CKD progression in people with albuminuria; this rests on multiple large trials from the 1990s onward. SGLT2 inhibitors reduce kidney disease progression in adults with CKD, with or without diabetes; DAPA-CKD (2020) and EMPA-KIDNEY (2022) together enrolled more than 10,000 people and were stopped early for benefit. Semaglutide reduces kidney events in type 2 diabetes with CKD, based on FLOW (2024).

Strong evidence from large observational cohorts. The relationship between lower eGFR, higher urine albumin and increased cardiovascular and all-cause mortality is consistent across millions of participants and underpins the staging grid. The accuracy advantage of combined creatinine and cystatin C equations over creatinine alone is well replicated.

Moderate evidence. Sodium restriction lowers blood pressure and albuminuria in short trials; long-term kidney outcomes are inferred rather than proven. Smoking cessation is associated with slower decline in observational data. Avoiding regular NSAID use is supported by consistent observational links to acute kidney injury and faster CKD progression, though randomized trials are impractical.

Weak or mixed evidence. Low-protein diets produced small delays in progression in older trials, with adherence problems and concern about malnutrition; guidelines are cautious. Bicarbonate supplementation for metabolic acidosis showed promise in small trials but larger studies have been mixed.

Expert opinion, not trial data. The idea that eGFR values in the fifties represent normal aging in people over 75 is argued by respected nephrologists but has not changed guidelines. The three-month persistence rule for defining CKD is a consensus definition rather than a biologically tested cutoff.

No credible evidence. Kidney cleanses, detox teas and most supplements marketed to “boost” eGFR.

Common myths about creatinine and eGFR

Myth: A low eGFR means my kidneys are failing. Kidney failure is defined as eGFR below 15 with symptoms or the need for dialysis. Most people flagged with a low result sit between 45 and 59, and most of them never reach failure. The bigger long-term risk in that band is heart disease, which is manageable.

Myth: Creatine supplements damage the kidneys. Creatine raises blood creatinine because more of it is available to convert, which lowers the estimate on paper. Controlled studies in healthy adults at standard supplement intakes have not shown harm to measured kidney function. The confusion is between a marker and the organ. People with existing kidney disease should still discuss any supplement with their clinician.

Myth: Drinking lots of water raises eGFR. Dehydration lowers the number temporarily, so rehydrating restores it, but drinking beyond thirst does not improve filtering in people who are already hydrated. One randomized trial in adults with CKD found no benefit from coaching participants to drink more.

Myth: A normal creatinine means normal kidneys. Creatinine can stay within the reference range until roughly half of filtering capacity is lost, particularly in people with low muscle mass. Urine albumin often flags damage far earlier.

Myth: eGFR is an exact measurement. It is an estimate with a 30 percent margin. A reading of 58 is compatible with a true GFR anywhere from the low forties to the mid-seventies. Repeat testing narrows the uncertainty.

Myth: The 2021 equation change means labs were lying before. The older equations reflected the data available when they were built. The race-free version was adopted because newer analyses showed it classifies people more consistently, not because earlier results were fabricated.

Myth: Kidney disease always causes symptoms. Early and moderate CKD is typically silent, which is exactly why screening exists.

When to see a doctor about creatinine levels or eGFR

A flagged eGFR on a routine panel is a reason to make an appointment, not to search for emergency care. Bring previous results if you have them, a list of every medicine and supplement you take, and note anything unusual about the days before the test: illness, heavy exercise, a big meat meal, or painkillers. Ask whether a repeat test and a urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio are appropriate, and whether cystatin C would help if the result sits near a threshold.

Seek care promptly, within days, if a low eGFR comes with any of these: swelling in the ankles, feet or around the eyes; urine that is foamy, pink, brown or much reduced in volume; blood pressure readings that have climbed unexpectedly; or a fall in eGFR of 25 percent or more compared with a recent result.

Seek same-day or emergency care for red-flag signs of acute kidney injury or advanced disease: passing very little urine or none for more than 12 hours; severe shortness of breath or chest pain; confusion, drowsiness or seizures; persistent vomiting that prevents fluids from staying down; or a sudden, severe drop in eGFR after a new medicine, contrast scan or serious illness.

Certain people should have kidney function checked regularly regardless of symptoms: anyone with diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, a family history of kidney disease, or who takes medicines known to affect the kidneys, including lithium, some antivirals and long-term NSAIDs. Yearly testing is the usual interval; a clinician may recommend more or less.

Never stop or change a prescribed medicine because of an eGFR result without speaking to the prescriber. Some medicines that lower eGFR slightly, including the ACE inhibitors and SGLT2 inhibitors discussed above, do so as part of how they protect the kidney over the long term. The decision about every medicine, test and referral belongs to the clinician who knows your history.

Frequently asked questions

What is a normal eGFR level?

An eGFR of 90 or higher is considered normal filtering, and healthy young adults typically sit between 100 and 130. Values from 60 to 89 are labeled mildly decreased but are not kidney disease unless urine albumin is raised or there is other evidence of damage. Results below 60 that persist for three months or longer meet the definition of chronic kidney disease. Labs often report anything above 90 simply as “>90” because the estimate is least precise at that end.

How do you fix low eGFR?

Scarred filtering units do not regrow, so the realistic goal is to stabilize eGFR and slow further loss rather than restore it. Randomized trials show that controlling blood pressure, particularly with ACE inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers when urine albumin is raised, and using SGLT2 inhibitors slow decline. Managing blood glucose, stopping smoking and avoiding regular anti-inflammatory painkillers also help. Every one of these decisions belongs with your treating clinician.

Should I worry if my GFR is 56?

A GFR of 56 falls in category G3a, mildly to moderately decreased, and on its own is not a cause for alarm. It needs to be repeated after a few weeks, because dehydration, exercise, a large meat meal or certain medicines can lower a single reading. If it persists and urine albumin is normal, the risk is moderate and usually managed with monitoring. If albumin is high, closer follow-up is warranted.

What is the most common cause of low GFR?

Diabetes is the most common cause of low GFR and of kidney failure in the United States and most high-income countries. Years of raised blood glucose damage the small vessels of the kidney’s filters. High blood pressure is the second most common cause, and the two often occur together. Other causes include glomerulonephritis, polycystic kidney disease, urinary blockage and long-term heavy use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

What creatinine levels are considered high?

Typical adult reference ranges run about 0.7 to 1.3 mg/dL for men and 0.6 to 1.1 mg/dL for women, though individual labs vary. A value above the range is flagged as high, but interpretation depends on muscle mass, age and sex, which is exactly why labs convert creatinine into eGFR. A muscular person may run higher without kidney disease, while a frail person can have significant disease with a creatinine that looks normal.

Can eGFR go back up?

Yes, in two situations. If a low reading was caused by a temporary factor such as dehydration, a recent illness, heavy exercise or a medicine that affects creatinine, the next result often returns to baseline. In acute kidney injury, function can recover substantially once the cause is treated. In established chronic kidney disease, large rises are uncommon, though treatments can stabilize the number and small improvements do occur in some people.

Does creatine supplementation lower eGFR?

It can lower the estimate without harming the kidney. Creatine converts to creatinine in the body, so supplement users often have higher blood creatinine and therefore a lower calculated eGFR. Controlled studies in healthy adults have not shown damage to measured kidney function. If you take creatine, tell your clinician before a blood test so the result can be interpreted correctly, or ask whether cystatin C would give a clearer picture.

Why did my eGFR change when the lab switched equations?

In 2021, US laboratories began adopting the CKD-EPI 2021 equation, which removed a race coefficient used in earlier versions. For many people this shifted their eGFR by a few points in either direction without any change in their kidneys. If your result crossed a stage boundary around 2022 or 2023, ask your clinician whether the change reflects the new formula or a genuine trend, ideally by comparing several results over time.

Is eGFR 60 to 89 kidney disease in older adults?

Usually not. Filtration declines by roughly 1 mL/min/1.73 m² per year after age 40, so many healthy adults over 65 have eGFR values in this range. Guidelines classify G2 as chronic kidney disease only when there is also albumin in the urine or another marker of kidney damage. A urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio is the test that settles the question, and periodic rechecking is typically all that is needed.

How often should eGFR be checked?

People with diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease or a family history of kidney disease are generally advised to have eGFR and urine albumin checked at least once a year. Those with confirmed chronic kidney disease are monitored more often, from every six months in early stages to every few months in advanced stages, depending on how quickly values are changing. Your clinician sets the interval based on your risk and trend.

References

• MedlinePlus: Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) Test
• Cleveland Clinic: Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR)
• NHS: Chronic kidney disease – Diagnosis

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.