ABSTRACT
In addition to serum albumin, BUN and serum creatinine concentrations are also considered simple biochemical markers of nutritional status. BUN is a metabolic end-product of dietary protein intake, and serum creatinine is a reflection of the total body muscle mass. The advantages of these simple markers are that they are easily available and cheap to measure. They also accurately reflect recent protein and calorie intake in most chronic dialysis patients. Finally, both indices are associated with mortality in large surveys in ESRD patients. However, concentrations of both BUN and serum creatinine are altered due to renal failure and are also determined by the dose of dialysis, which makes their interpretation as nutritional indices more complicated. Further, they primarily reflect short-term dietary protein intake.
