Azotemia is a buildup of nitrogenous waste products in the blood caused by impaired kidney function. On lab reports, it shows up mainly as elevated blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine.

Azotemia is an early sign of kidney trouble, one that appears while a patient is still asymptomatic.

Uremia (also called uremic syndrome) is a clinical syndrome seen mostly in CKD stages 4–5. It develops when severely impaired kidneys allow uremic toxins to accumulate. It shows up as fatigue, nausea, metabolic disturbances, and a range of serious complications.

▶️ Put simply, uremia is severe azotemia that has started to produce clinical symptoms. So every patient with uremia has azotemia, but not every patient with azotemia develops uremia.

And one more term while we’re here: hyperuricemia is a separate lab finding — an elevated blood level of uric acid (urate), not urea.

Here is a list for your glossary:
– Azotemia
– Uremia
– Uremic toxins
– Blood urea nitrogen (BUN)
– Creatinine
– Hyperuricemia
– Urea
– Uric acid
– Urate

If you don’t know where to find the equivalents in your language, search for the glossaries in the catalog. Select ‘Nephrology’ or ‘Medicine (general)’ under ‘Medicine’.

Have you run into these terms in medical texts?

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