A normal value is 0.8 to 1.4 mg/dL.

Females usually have a lower creatinine than males, because they usually have less muscle mass.

Note: Normal value ranges may vary slightly among different laboratories. Talk to your doctor about the meaning of your specific test results.

Higher-than-normal levels may indicate:

• Acute tubular necrosis
• Dehydration
• Diabetic nephropathy
• Eclampsia (a condition of pregnancy that includes seizures)
• Glomerulonephritis
• Kidney failure
• Muscular dystrophy
• Preeclampsia (pregnancy-induced hypertension)
• Pyelonephritis
• Reduced kidney blood flow (shock, congestive heart failure)
• Rhabdomyolysis
• Urinary tract obstruction

Lower-than-normal levels may indicate:

• Muscular dystrophy (late stage)
• Myasthenia gravis

Additional conditions under which the test may be performed:

• Alport syndrome
• Atheroembolic kidney disease
• Chronic kidney disease
• Cushing syndrome
• Dementia due to metabolic causes
• Dermatomyositis
• Diabetes
• Digitalis toxicity
• Ectopic Cushing syndrome
• Generalized tonic-clonic seizure
• Goodpasture syndrome
• Hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS)
• Hepatorenal syndrome
• Interstitial nephritis
• Lupus nephritis
• Malignant hypertension (arteriolar nephrosclerosis)
• Medullary cystic kidney disease
• Membranoproliferative GN I and GN II
• Type 2 diabetes
• Polymyositis (adult)
• Prerenal azotemia
• Primary amyloidosis
• Secondary systemic amyloid
• Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura
• Wilms' tumor