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George Dunea, MB; Philip Freedman, MD

JAMA. 1968;203(13):1125-1126.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

The accumulation of nitrogenous compounds in the blood constitutes the most characteristic biochemical change of renal insufficiency. The degree of retention is variously expressed in terms of the concentration of blood urea, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), or nonprotein nitrogen (NPN), and this may occasionally cause confusion. The BUN, widely used in the United States, and the blood urea level, more frequently employed in Europe, can be used interchangeably (by using a conversion factor of 2:1). The NPN however cannot be accurately converted to BUN.

Use of the NPN in clinical medicine stems from the earlier difficulties of measuring blood urea. At the present time, urea determinations are readily available and use of the NPN can no longer be recommended. However, since many laboratories continue to estimate NPN, its significance and its relation to the more commonly used BUN must be understood.

The NPN of blood includes all nitrogen that is . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Medicine, the Chicago Medical School, University of Health Sciences, Mount Sinai Hospital Medical Center, and Cook County Hospital, Chicago.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to 1835 W Harrison St. Chicago 60612 (Dr. Dunea).

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