Fact Sheet 120

Normal Laboratory Values

 

IMPORTANT NOTES

NORMAL LABORATORY VALUES

TERMINOLOGY

 

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IMPORTANT NOTES:

Each commercial laboratory has its own set of “normal” values, called “Normal Range” or “Reference Range” on your lab report. These values depend on the equipment or method used. Compare your results to the range shown on your lab report. Results that are “out of range” may not represent a problem. Your test results can be affected by several factors, including your age or gender, if you are pregnant, the time of day when the sample was taken, active infections, stage of HIV disease, and food (some test samples need to be taken after you have fasted – not eaten anything – for several hours). Where normal values for men and women are different, they are indicated as W for women and M for men. Discuss “out of range” results with your health care provider.

The table below compares the units used in the United States with the “Système International d’Unités (SI units), a metric system used in many parts of the world. The last column, “To Convert US to SI Units,” is the factor to multiply US lab values to convert them to SI units. To convert SI units to US units, divide the SI value by the conversion factor. See page 2 for a terminology list.

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NORMAL LABORATORY VALUES

 

Laboratory Test	Normal Range in US Units	Normal Range in SI Units	To Convert US to SI Units
ALT (Alanine aminotransferase)	W 7-30 units/liter M 10-55 units/liter	W 0.12-0.50 µkat/liter M 0.17-0.92 µkat/liter	x 0.01667
Albumin	3.1 – 4.3 g/dl	31 – 43 g/liter	x 10
Alkaline Phosphatase	W 30-100 units/liter M 45-115 units/liter	W 0.5-1.67 µkat/liter W 0.75-1.92 µkat/liter	x 0.01667
Amylase (serum)	53-123 units/liter	0.88-2.05 nkat/liter	x 0.01667
AST (Aspartate aminotransferase)	W 9-25 units/liter M 10-40 units/liter	W 0.15-0.42 µkat/liter M 0.17-0.67 µkat/liter	x 0.01667
Basophils	0-3% of lymphocytes	0.0-0.3 fraction of white blood cells	x 0.01
Bilirubin – Direct	0.0-0.4 mg/dl	0-7 µmol/liter	x 17.1
Bilirubin – Total	0.0-1.0 mg/dl	0-17 µmol/liter	x 17.1
Blood pressure	Normal: 120/70 to 120/80 millimeters of mercury (mmHg). The top number is systolic pressure, when the heart is pumping. Bottom number is diastolic pressure then the heart is at rest. Blood pressure can be too low (hypotension) or too high (hypertension).		No conversion
C peptide	0.5-2.0 ng/ml	0.17-0.66 nmol/liter	x 0.33
Calcium, serum	8.5 -10.5 mg/dl	2.1-2.6 mmol/liter	x 0.25
Calcium, urine	0-300 mg/24h	0.0-7.5 mmol/24h	x 0.025
Cholesterol, total Desirable Marginal High	60 mg/dL 40-60 mg/dL 1.55 mmol/liter 1.03-1.55 mmol/liter br / W 0.6-3.1, M 15.0-40.0 pg/mlbr / W 0.4-2.5, M 13.0-35.0 pg/mlbr / W 0.2-2.0, M 12.0-28.0 pg/ml/p /td td width=”32%”W 20.8-107.5, M 520-1387 pmol/liter< br/ W 13.9-86.7, M 451-1213 pmol/literbr / W 6.9-69.3, M 416-971 pmol/liter td width="14%"x 34.67/td /tr tr td width="22%"Triglycerides (fasting)br / Normalbr / Borderline br / High br / Very high/td td width="32%"br / 40-150 mg/dlbr / 150-200 mg/dlbr / 200-500 mg/dlbr / 500 mg/dl/td td width="32%"br / 0.45-1.69 mmol/literbr / 1.69-2.26 mmol/literbr / 2.26-5.65 mmol/literbr / >5.65 mmol/liter	x 0.01129
Urea, plasma (BUN)	8-25 mg/dl	2.9-8.9 mmol/liter	x 0.357
Urinalysis: pH Specific gravity	5.0-9.0 1.001-1.035	5.0-9.0 1.001-1.035	No conversion
WBC (White blood cells, leucocytes)	4.5-11.0×103/mm3	4.5-11.0×109/liter	No conversion

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TERMINOLOGY:

UNITS:

gram: common measurement of weight. Used in this table: pg (picograms), g (grams), mg (milligrams), etc. per liter

katal (kat): a unit of catalytic activity, used especially in the chemistry of enzymes. Used in this table: µkat (microkatals), nkat (nanokatals) per liter

micrometer (µm): a unit of length. Mean Corpuscular Volume is expressed in cubic micrometers

mole: also “gram molecular weight,” a quantity based on the atomic weight of the substance. Many test results in the Système Internationale are expressed as the number of moles per liter. In US units, these measurements are usually in grams per liter. Used in this table: mmol (millimoles), µmol, (micromoles), nmol (nanomoles), pmol (picomoles) per liter

Some units of measurement include the following fractions and multipliers:

mega (M): 106 or x1,000,000	milli (m): 10-3 or ÷1,000
kilo (k): 103 or x1,000	micro (µ): 10-6 or ÷1,000,000
deca or deka: 101 or x10	nano (n): 10-9 or ÷1,000,000,000
deci (d): 10-1 or ÷10	pico (p): 10-12 or ÷1,000,000,000,000

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