BUN

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Overview

Risks

Results

BUN

Alternative Names:

Blood urea nitrogen

Normal Values:

7 - 20 mg/dl. Note that normal values may vary among different laboratories.

What abnormal results mean:

Greater-than-normal levels may indicate:

Congestive heart failure
Excessive protein catabolism (possibly due to starvation)
Excessive protein ingestion
Gastrointestinal bleeding
Hypovolemia (possibly due to burns or dehydration)
Myocardial infarction (heart attack)
Renal disease (for example, glomerulonephritis, pyelonephritis, and acute tubular necrosis)
Renal failure
Shock
Urinary tract obstruction (for example, tumor, stones, and prostatic hypertrophy)

Lower-than-normal levels may indicate:

Liver failure
Low protein diet
Malnutrition
Over-hydration

Additional conditions under which the test may be performed:

Acute nephritic syndrome
Alport syndrome
Atheroembolic renal disease
Chronic renal failure
Complicated UTI (pyelonephritis)
Dementia due to metabolic causes
Diabetic nephropathy/sclerosis
Digitalis toxicity
End-stage renal disease
Epilepsy
Generalized tonic-clonic seizure
Goodpasture's syndrome
Hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS)
Hepatorenal syndrome
IgM mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis
Interstitial nephritis
Lupus nephritis
Malignant hypertension (arteriolar nephrosclerosis)
Medullary cystic disease
Membranoproliferative GN I
Membranoproliferative GN II
Noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM)
Prerenal azotemia
Primary amyloid
Rapidly progressive (crescentic) glomerulonephritis
Secondary systemic amyloid
Wilms' tumor

Review Date: 6/13/2005
Reviewed By: Debbie Cohen, M.D., Renal and Electrolyte Division, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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