The Cardiovascular
ToolsCalculators

Creatinine clearance (Cockcroft–Gault)

Estimates creatinine clearance for renal drug dosing.

Creatinine clearance (Cockcroft–Gault)
Age
years
Sex
Weight
Serum creatinine
Complete the fields above to see the result.

When to use

  • Renal dose adjustment of drugs — notably DOACs, whose labelling and trial dose-reduction criteria were based on Cockcroft–Gault, not eGFR.
  • Assumes stable renal function; unreliable in acute kidney injury.

Formula

CrCl (mL/min) = [(140 − age) × weight (kg)] / (72 × serum creatinine [mg/dL]), × 0.85 if female.

Pearls and pitfalls

  • At the extremes of body habitus the result may mislead; adjusted or ideal body weight is often used in obesity.
  • Because the equation was derived against non-standardised creatinine assays, it can differ meaningfully from CKD-EPI eGFR.

References

  1. Cockcroft DW, Gault MH. Prediction of creatinine clearance from serum creatinine. Nephron. 1976;16(1):31–41.