What does uremia mean?
Uremia is a medical term for the clinical syndrome that develops when severe kidney failure allows waste products to accumulate in the blood. Its name reflects an older literal description: “urine in the blood.” In modern usage, uremia generally denotes the illness associated with advanced renal failure rather than merely an elevated blood urea level. Symptoms may include nausea, fatigue, itching, confusion, and, in severe cases, coma. Physicians encounter it in conditions such as uremic encephalopathy, uremic pericarditis, and uremic coma, while treatment focuses on the underlying kidney failure and may include dialysis. Although primarily a specialist term, uremia is notable because it illustrates how a medical expression can develop from the description of a substance to the name of a broader disease syndrome. It should be distinguished from azotemia, which more generally refers to increased nitrogenous waste in the blood and does not necessarily include the full set of clinical features associated with uremia.
nounUremia is the clinical syndrome caused by the accumulation of nitrogenous waste in the blood, usually as a result of advanced kidney failure. Older medical usage sometimes defined it more narrowly as the presence of an abnormally high concentration of urea in the blood.
- The clinical syndrome caused by the accumulation of uremic waste in the blood, typically associated with advanced kidney failure.
"Advanced kidney failure can lead to uremia, a potentially life-threatening accumulation of toxins in the blood."
"The patient was admitted with severe uremia after years of untreated chronic kidney disease."
"Uremic encephalopathy is a serious neurological complication associated with advanced renal failure."
A rare plural; medical writing normally treats uremia as a mass noun.
"The report describes two acute uremias requiring urgent dialysis."
Uremia literally means “urine blood,” a grim description of the condition in which kidney failure allows waste to build up in the bloodstream.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does uremia come from?
Uremia was formed in the 19th century from Greek οὐρόν (ourón), meaning “urine,” and αἷμα (haíma), meaning “blood.” Its early medical sense referred to the presence of urinary waste in the bloodstream. The term later became closely associated with the clinical syndrome of advanced kidney failure.
Related word forms
How uremia is actually used
This is a specialized medical term used in formal clinical and academic writing. “Uremia” is the usual American spelling, whereas British medical literature has traditionally favored “uraemia.”
Easily confused with uremia
Azotemia broadly means an increased concentration of nitrogenous waste in the blood, whereas uremia more specifically denotes the clinical syndrome of severe renal failure, including its characteristic symptoms.