Diagnostic performance of serum blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio for distinguishing prerenal from intrinsic acute kidney injury in the emergency department

Abstract Background The blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio (BCR) has been used since the early 1940s to help clinicians differentiate between prerenal acute kidney injury (PR AKI) and intrinsic AKI (I AKI). This ratio is simple to use and often put forward as a reliable diagnostic tool even tho...

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Main Authors: Guillaume Manoeuvrier, Kalyane Bach-Ngohou, Eric Batard, Damien Masson, David Trewick
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2017-05-01
Series:BMC Nephrology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12882-017-0591-9
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author Guillaume Manoeuvrier
Kalyane Bach-Ngohou
Eric Batard
Damien Masson
David Trewick
author_facet Guillaume Manoeuvrier
Kalyane Bach-Ngohou
Eric Batard
Damien Masson
David Trewick
author_sort Guillaume Manoeuvrier
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background The blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio (BCR) has been used since the early 1940s to help clinicians differentiate between prerenal acute kidney injury (PR AKI) and intrinsic AKI (I AKI). This ratio is simple to use and often put forward as a reliable diagnostic tool even though little scientific evidence supports this. The aim of this study was to determine whether BCR is a reliable tool for distinguishing PR AKI from I AKI. Methods We conducted a retrospective observational study over a 13 months period, in the Emergency Department (ED) of Nantes University Hospital. Eligible for inclusion were all adult patients consecutively admitted to the ED with a creatinine >133 μmol/L (1.5 mg/dL). Results Sixty thousand one hundred sixty patients were consecutively admitted to the ED. 2756 patients had plasma creatinine levels in excess of 133 μmol/L, 1653 were excluded, leaving 1103 patients for definitive inclusion. Mean age was 75.7 ± 14.8 years old, 498 (45%) patients had PR AKI and 605 (55%) I AKI. BCR was 90.55 ± 39.32 and 91.29 ± 39.79 in PR AKI and I AKI groups respectively. There was no statistical difference between mean BCR of the PR AKI and I AKI groups, p = 0.758. The area under the ROC curve was 0.5 indicating that BCR had no capacity to discriminate between PR AKI and I AKI. Conclusions Our study is the largest to investigate the diagnostic performance of BCR. BCR is not a reliable parameter for distinguishing prerenal AKI from intrinsic AKI.
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spelling doaj.art-2f5c7c5af57b4ce18df222bded6909b92022-12-22T01:02:18ZengBMCBMC Nephrology1471-23692017-05-011811710.1186/s12882-017-0591-9Diagnostic performance of serum blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio for distinguishing prerenal from intrinsic acute kidney injury in the emergency departmentGuillaume Manoeuvrier0Kalyane Bach-Ngohou1Eric Batard2Damien Masson3David Trewick4Department of Medicine, Clinique Jules VerneDepartment of Biology, Laboratory of Clinical Biochemistry, CHU NantesDepartment of Emergency Medicine, CHU NantesDepartment of Biology, Laboratory of Clinical Biochemistry, CHU NantesDepartment of Emergency Medicine, CHU NantesAbstract Background The blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio (BCR) has been used since the early 1940s to help clinicians differentiate between prerenal acute kidney injury (PR AKI) and intrinsic AKI (I AKI). This ratio is simple to use and often put forward as a reliable diagnostic tool even though little scientific evidence supports this. The aim of this study was to determine whether BCR is a reliable tool for distinguishing PR AKI from I AKI. Methods We conducted a retrospective observational study over a 13 months period, in the Emergency Department (ED) of Nantes University Hospital. Eligible for inclusion were all adult patients consecutively admitted to the ED with a creatinine >133 μmol/L (1.5 mg/dL). Results Sixty thousand one hundred sixty patients were consecutively admitted to the ED. 2756 patients had plasma creatinine levels in excess of 133 μmol/L, 1653 were excluded, leaving 1103 patients for definitive inclusion. Mean age was 75.7 ± 14.8 years old, 498 (45%) patients had PR AKI and 605 (55%) I AKI. BCR was 90.55 ± 39.32 and 91.29 ± 39.79 in PR AKI and I AKI groups respectively. There was no statistical difference between mean BCR of the PR AKI and I AKI groups, p = 0.758. The area under the ROC curve was 0.5 indicating that BCR had no capacity to discriminate between PR AKI and I AKI. Conclusions Our study is the largest to investigate the diagnostic performance of BCR. BCR is not a reliable parameter for distinguishing prerenal AKI from intrinsic AKI.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12882-017-0591-9Acute kidney injury (AKI)Blood urea creatinine ratio (BCR)Diagnostic performanceEmergency departmentPrerenal acute kidney injury
spellingShingle Guillaume Manoeuvrier
Kalyane Bach-Ngohou
Eric Batard
Damien Masson
David Trewick
Diagnostic performance of serum blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio for distinguishing prerenal from intrinsic acute kidney injury in the emergency department
BMC Nephrology
Acute kidney injury (AKI)
Blood urea creatinine ratio (BCR)
Diagnostic performance
Emergency department
Prerenal acute kidney injury
title Diagnostic performance of serum blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio for distinguishing prerenal from intrinsic acute kidney injury in the emergency department
title_full Diagnostic performance of serum blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio for distinguishing prerenal from intrinsic acute kidney injury in the emergency department
title_fullStr Diagnostic performance of serum blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio for distinguishing prerenal from intrinsic acute kidney injury in the emergency department
title_full_unstemmed Diagnostic performance of serum blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio for distinguishing prerenal from intrinsic acute kidney injury in the emergency department
title_short Diagnostic performance of serum blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio for distinguishing prerenal from intrinsic acute kidney injury in the emergency department
title_sort diagnostic performance of serum blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio for distinguishing prerenal from intrinsic acute kidney injury in the emergency department
topic Acute kidney injury (AKI)
Blood urea creatinine ratio (BCR)
Diagnostic performance
Emergency department
Prerenal acute kidney injury
url http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12882-017-0591-9
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