The Association of Blood Urea Nitrogen Levels and Coronary Artery Disease

Renal dysfunction has been associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Estimates of renal function routinely utilize creatinine-based measures. Serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels, however, may provide supplemental information in regard to renal function as renal proximal tubule cells may increase BUN reabsorption in the setting of increased neurohormonal activation. We performed a retrospective chart review on 156 consecutive adult patients presenting to the Montefiore Medical Center Emergency Department with symptoms of unstable angina and no known prior history of coronary artery disease (CAD) who underwent cardiac catheterization as part of their index hospitalization. On multivariate analysis, admission serum BUN was associated with an increased burden of CAD on cardiac catheterization and was not associated with ruling in for myocardial infarction (MI).