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COMPREHENSIVE METABOLIC PANEL (CMP)
Also printed as: Serum creatinine · CREA
Educational only — not medical advice.
Creatinine is a waste product your muscles make at a fairly steady rate as they use energy. Your kidneys filter it out of the blood, so the level in your blood reflects both your muscle mass and how well your kidneys are clearing. It is the input that eGFR is calculated from.
Creatinine is the workhorse kidney marker because it is steady and easy to trend. What matters clinically is usually the direction over time and how it compares to your own baseline, not whether one value sits a hair outside the printed range.
TYPICAL ADULT RANGE
Many labs report roughly 0.7–1.3 mg/dL for adult men and 0.6–1.1 mg/dL for adult women. Ranges vary by lab and by how much muscle you carry. Reported in mg/dL.
Reference ranges vary by lab, by method, and by age and sex. Always read your own result against the range printed on your report.
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Low creatinine usually says more about muscle than about kidneys. People with less muscle mass — smaller frames, older adults, anyone recovering from a period of low activity — often run low, as do people in pregnancy. A very low-protein or plant-forward diet can contribute. It is generally not a worrying finding on its own, but it is worth mentioning if it dropped noticeably from your usual level.
A higher creatinine is often about context rather than kidneys. Heavy resistance training or a hard workout in the days before the draw, a large amount of cooked meat, creatine supplementation, dehydration, and simply carrying more muscle all raise it. Some common medications shift it too. Because it also reflects kidney filtering, your doctor will read it with eGFR and BUN and, if the number is new for you, will usually want a repeat draw under ordinary conditions before interpreting it.
Your doctor is the one who can read this number against your history, symptoms, and medications.
Educational only — not medical advice. Lab results only mean something alongside your history, symptoms, medications, and the rest of your panel. Bring questions to your doctor; they are the one who can interpret your results for you.
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