American and European bloodwork

[mogee]

I've been reading many posts from U.S. patients regarding their bloodwork.  I am in Canada, and here we use metric measures for testing.  For example, 100-140 is normal for hemoglobin, blood sugar should be below 6.0 and potassium should also be lower than 5.0.  (I may actually be a bit off on the exact number since I'm writing from recall)  Since this forum is international it would be useful to post a conversion chart or a list of formulae.  I will do so myself if no one else does.

[galvo]

Good idea.

[jennyc]

to convert the us system to the euro/australian system follow this (nb: US uses mg/dl europe and aus use umol)

To convert umol (micromoles) /l of creatinine to mg/dl, divide by 88.
To convert mg/dl of creatinine to umol/l, multiply by 88.

[Riki]

ok. so to get this straight, my creatnine, which usually runs around 1000, in this conversion would be 11.4.. am I doing this right?

and after my last transplant, when it went down to about 50, it would have been .57

[RenalSurvivorDotCA]

ok. so to get this straight, my creatnine, which usually runs around 1000, in this conversion would be 11.4.. am I doing this right?

and after my last transplant, when it went down to about 50, it would have been .57

That sounds about right. Normal creatinine is 50-150umol. Mine hovers around 1200 and I clear down to 500umol. Mine would be higher normally because I have more than average muscle mass.

[Stoday]

Normal range Europe - - - US equiv
PO₄ 0.8 - 1.4 μmol/l - - - 2.5 - 4.3 mg/dl
Urea  3.6 - 5.0 mmol/l - - - 20 - 30 mg/dl
Ca  2.1 - 2.6 mmol/l - - - 8.4 - 10.4 mg/dl
PTH   1.3 - 7.6 pmol/l - - - 10 - 65 ng/l

μ = micro = 10^-6
n = nano = 10^-9
p = pico = 10^-12

[Riki]

When I was a child, my creatnine hovered around 1200, but when I first got sick, it was at 1600.  I was told that I had a tolerance for high levels.  The last time I got a look, it was at 1100

[mogee]

The factor for blood sugar is 18.  Multiply the European unit by 18 to get the American unit; divide the American unit by 18 to get the European unit.  Unfortunately the conversion to and from micromoles per litre to milligrams per decilitre is different for each substance.  The conversion factor depends on the molecular weight of the substance measured.