A GFR of 101
| Where it fallsthe KDIGO 2012 CKD stages | Stage G1 — normal or high |
|---|---|
| eGFR | 101mL/min/1.73 m² |
| Usual reference range | 90 or abovemL/min/1.73 m² |
| Stage G5 — kidney failure | under 15mL/min/1.73 m² |
| Stage G4 — severely reduced | 15 – 29mL/min/1.73 m² |
| Stage G3b — moderately to severely reduced | 30 – 44mL/min/1.73 m² |
| Stage G3a — mildly to moderately reduced | 45 – 59mL/min/1.73 m² |
| Stage G2 — mildly reduced | 60 – 89mL/min/1.73 m² |
| Stage G1 — normal or highthis reading | 90 and abovemL/min/1.73 m² |
Notes
- One reading is not a diagnosis. eGFR moves with hydration, muscle mass, recent meat intake and some medicines, as well as kidney function itself. A clinician reads it against your history and usually against a repeat, not on its own.
- Reference ranges differ between laboratories. The bands above follow the KDIGO 2012 CKD stages. Your own report prints the range its analyser was calibrated against, and that printed range is the one to compare against — a difference of a few units between labs is normal and does not mean either is wrong.
- A stage number alone is not a diagnosis of chronic kidney disease. KDIGO requires the abnormality to persist for at least three months, and the letter G is only half the classification — the other half is albuminuria, graded A1 to A3. Two people with an eGFR of 101 and different albumin results have materially different outlooks, which is why the full label reads "G1 A1" rather than a stage on its own.
- eGFR is estimated from creatinine, and creatinine comes from muscle. A very muscular person, someone who has recently eaten a lot of cooked meat, or someone taking creatine supplements will have their kidney function underestimated; someone with low muscle mass, an amputation, or advanced liver disease will have it overestimated. Where the estimate looks wrong for the person, cystatin C is the usual cross-check.
- The 2021 CKD-EPI equation removed the race coefficient. Results calculated before that change on a Black patient were reported roughly 16% higher than the same sample would be reported today, so an older result is not directly comparable to a recent one.
What egfr of 101 mL/min/1.73 m² means
A reading of 101 mL/min/1.73 m² falls in Stage G1 — normal or high by the KDIGO 2012 CKD stages.
The usual reference range is 90 or above mL/min/1.73 m².
Reading it next to the rest of the picture
A single figure is a snapshot. What a clinician does with it is set by what sits around it — the other results on the same report, what the person is being treated for, what they were doing in the hours before the sample, and what the previous result was. Two people can hand over the same number and leave with different advice, and neither has been given the wrong answer.
That is also why the bands on this page are drawn from a named guideline rather than from a rounded rule of thumb. A threshold is a decision point somebody argued for in print, not a law of nature, and knowing which document a line comes from is what lets you tell a meaningful result from a borderline one.
Nearby sizes
Read more
- CBC Normal Ranges — What Each Line on the Result MeansA value marked high or low on a CBC is common and is often not significant on its own. The pattern across lines is what a clinician reads.
- eGFR Normal Range: Above 90, and the Stages Below IteGFR is an estimate built from creatinine, age and sex — and the estimate is better than the raw creatinine it comes from, for a reason worth understanding.
- TSH Normal Range: 0.4–4.0 mIU/L, and the Number Moves BackwardsTSH runs opposite to the gland it measures. High TSH means the thyroid is underactive, and that inversion catches almost everyone reading their own result.
- Cholesterol Numbers: What Total, LDL, HDL and Triglycerides MeanA lipid panel reports four numbers and the one printed largest — total cholesterol — is the least useful of them.