Chloride/Creatinine Ratio details
What Chloride/Creatinine Ratio shows
Chloride is an electrolyte that helps control fluid balance and acid-base balance, and creatinine is a waste product the kidneys clear at a fairly steady rate. This ratio is calculated by dividing the chloride measured in your urine by the creatinine measured in the same collection. Relating chloride to creatinine helps adjust for how concentrated your urine was and gives a check on how complete the collection may have been. A higher ratio generally means more chloride is being passed relative to creatinine, as with high salt intake or diuretics, while a lower ratio may reflect low intake or the body holding on to chloride. It is interpreted with the 24-hour chloride, blood electrolytes and your diet and medications.
Tests that include Chloride/Creatinine Ratio
Urine chloride excretion approximates the dietary intake. The chloride content of most foods parallels that of sodium. An increase in urine chloride may result from water-deficient dehydration, diabetic acidosis, Addison's Disease, and salt-losing renal disease. Decreased urine levels are seen in congestive heart failure, severe diaphoresis, and in hypochloremic metabolic alkalosis due to prolonged vomiting.
- Chloride, 24 Hour Measures the total chloride passed in your urine over 24 hours, helping assess salt and fluid balance and causes of abnormal blood electrolytes.
- Chloride/Creatinine Ratio A calculated ratio of chloride to creatinine in your 24-hour urine, used to put urinary chloride in context of urine concentration and collection.
- Creatinine, 24 Hour Measures the total creatinine passed in a 24-hour urine collection, used to check the collection is complete and to calculate kidney function and other urine results.
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