Creatinine clearance - Cockcroft and Gault

Last updated: Thursday, 25, March, 2010

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Item Process
Specimen

Derived from Serum creatinine measurement; see Creatinine - urine Plasma.

The patient should not eat meat at the meal immediately prior to, or during, the procedure.

Method

Derived value.

  1. Cockcroft and Gault formula: Creatinine clearance (mL/min)
    males = (140-age) x weight (kg) / 0.814 x plasma creatinine (umol/L) Creatinine clearance (mL/min)
    females = 0.85 x (140-age) x weight (kg) / 0.814 x plasma creatinine (umol/L)
  2. Variations include estimating ideal body weight from patient height in obese subjects.
Reference Interval

Normal > 70 mL/min in a young adult. Typically falling approx 0.5 mL/min per year at ages over 30 years.

Application

The Cockcroft and Gault formula for creatinine clearance is recommended as an estimate of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) for assisting with drug dosing decisions in renal impairment. Normalisation for body surface area is not indicated for drug dosing decisions.

Interpretation

Advice on levels to adjust drug doses available in drug reference sources.

Reference

Australian Medicines Handbook
Therapeutic Guidelines
MIMS.
Cockcroft DW and Gault MH. Nephron 1976; 16: 31-41.