Blood urea test

A waste product of protein that the kidneys clear.

€3.93. You pay at the desk, not online.

Blood urea test: what it is for

Azotemia is the amount of urea in your blood. Urea is the waste your liver makes when your body uses protein. Your kidneys then clear it in your urine. So the value depends on what you eat, how much you drink and how well your kidneys work.

When it is done

In Italy, doctors often add it to routine blood tests, next to creatinine. They also order it with dehydration, vomiting or diarrhoea, before some medicines, or to follow kidney or liver disease.

On its own, though, it says little about your kidneys. It rises and falls with the protein you eat and the water you drink. To see how well the kidneys filter, guidelines use creatinine and the estimated filtration rate, eGFR.

How the blood urea test is done

It is a blood test, done at a Bianalisi lab without a prescription. You can add other tests to the same draw.

Questions about the blood urea test.

Do I need to fast for a urea test? Yes. Usually you are asked to fast from the evening before. You can drink water.

How much does the blood urea test cost? €3.93, from Bianalisi’s private list for Lombardy. You pay at the desk on the day of the draw, not online.

Do I need a prescription for the blood urea test? No. You book it here without a prescription and pay at the Bianalisi desk.

When do results arrive? Within 10 working days, in the Rosa app, with each value next to the lab’s interval. The report a doctor approves is in the Rosa membership.