All conversions run locally in your browser. No lab values are sent to any server.
Educational only. Reference ranges vary by lab, method, age and sex — this tool is not medical advice.
Pick the analyte you are converting — for example glucose, total cholesterol, creatinine, or HbA1c — from the grouped list (diabetes, lipids, renal, liver, electrolytes, hematology, hormones and vitamins).
Type the value in either unit. The tool converts in both directions instantly, so you can enter a conventional value (mg/dL) and read the SI value (mmol/L), or the reverse.
Read the result along with the exact conversion factor used and the molar mass it is derived from, so you can see and verify the math rather than trusting a black box.
For HbA1c, switch between NGSP (%) and IFCC (mmol/mol) — the tool applies the official affine master equation, not a simple multiplier.
Load an Example to see a worked conversion, or copy the result for pasting into your notes. Everything runs locally; nothing you type is ever uploaded.
Convert the results clinicians reach for most: glucose and HbA1c, the full lipid panel, renal markers (creatinine, urea/BUN, uric acid), liver markers (bilirubin), electrolytes and minerals (calcium, magnesium, phosphate), hematology (hemoglobin), and hormones and vitamins (vitamin D, cortisol).
Each analyte uses its own conversion factor derived from molar mass — glucose ×0.0555, creatinine ×88.42, cholesterol ×0.02586 — not a single generic multiplier. Conversion works in both directions and the factor is shown so you can check it.
HbA1c is not a mass/molar conversion. The tool uses the IFCC-NGSP master equation (IFCC mmol/mol = 10.929 × NGSP% − 23.5), the internationally agreed affine relationship, so percentages and mmol/mol line up exactly.
Every calculation runs in your browser with no upload. The tool shows the factor and molar mass behind each result, turning a conversion into a teachable, verifiable step rather than an opaque number.
Every conversion is computed locally in your browser using JavaScript. The lab values you enter, the analytes you select, and any patient context you are working from are never transmitted, cached, or logged on any server. That makes the tool safe to use from a clinical workstation, a ward computer, or a personal phone without creating any new disclosure of health information, and it keeps working even with your connection disabled.
The converter uses established, analyte-specific factors derived from each substance's molar mass — the same values published in standard clinical references and the AMA Manual of Style SI conversion tables. Glucose, creatinine, cholesterol, and every other analyte carries its own factor rather than a one-size-fits-all multiplier, so the result matches what a laboratory or journal would report.
Some conversions are not simple molar arithmetic. HbA1c uses the affine NGSP↔IFCC master equation with both a slope and an intercept; ratios and percentages are unit-independent. The tool encodes these rules explicitly instead of forcing every analyte through the same formula, which is where generic converters go wrong.
Alongside each result the tool shows the exact factor and the molar mass it comes from, so a student can learn why glucose converts at 0.0555 (1 ÷ 180.16 g/mol) while creatinine converts at 88.42. It is a reference and teaching utility that makes the reasoning visible, not a black box that only prints a number.
A laboratory can express the concentration of a substance in blood two very different ways. Conventional units report a mass of substance per volume — for example glucose in milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) or hemoglobin in grams per deciliter (g/dL). SI units (from the Système International d'Unités) report the amount of substance in moles per volume — glucose in millimoles per liter (mmol/L), creatinine in micromoles per liter (µmol/L). Most of the world reports laboratory chemistry in SI units; the United States is the major holdout that still uses conventional mass units in routine practice. Anyone who reads international journals, treats patients across borders, or merges datasets from different laboratories eventually has to convert between the two.
Reporting in moles is not merely a stylistic preference. Chemical and physiological processes happen molecule-for-molecule, so a molar concentration reflects how many particles are actually present to react, bind, or exert osmotic effect. That makes molar units more meaningful when comparing substances or reasoning about mechanisms: 1 mmol/L of one analyte and 1 mmol/L of another contain the same number of molecules even though their masses differ. Mass units, by contrast, are convenient at the bench but obscure this stoichiometry.
Converting a mass concentration to a molar concentration only requires the substance's molar mass (grams per mole). The relationship is: amount (mol) = mass (g) ÷ molar mass (g/mol). In practice the published conversion factor bundles the molar mass together with the unit scaling (dL to L, mg to g, and so on). Glucose has a molar mass of about 180.16 g/mol, so converting mg/dL to mmol/L multiplies by 1 ÷ 18.0182 ≈ 0.0555. Creatinine (molar mass 113.12) converts mg/dL to µmol/L by multiplying by 88.42. Total cholesterol converts mg/dL to mmol/L by 0.02586. Because each factor is tied to a specific molar mass, there is no universal multiplier — the analyte determines the number.
Not every "unit conversion" is a molar calculation. Hemoglobin A1c is reported two ways: the older NGSP percentage (%) familiar in the United States, and the IFCC value in mmol/mol used in much of the world. These are related by an internationally agreed affine equation — a straight line with both a slope and an intercept — not a simple factor: IFCC (mmol/mol) = 10.929 × (NGSP% − 2.15), equivalently 10.929 × NGSP% − 23.5. Because of the intercept, you cannot convert HbA1c by multiplying alone, which is exactly the kind of special case a good converter must encode explicitly.
Suppose a report from a European laboratory lists glucose as 7.2 mmol/L and you think in mg/dL. Divide by 0.0555 (or multiply by 18.0182): 7.2 ÷ 0.0555 ≈ 130 mg/dL. Going the other way, a US fasting glucose of 100 mg/dL is 100 × 0.0555 ≈ 5.55 mmol/L. The arithmetic is small, but doing it by hand under time pressure — or applying the wrong factor to the wrong analyte — is a real source of error, which is why an analyte-aware tool is safer than a mental multiply.
This converter is an educational and reference utility. It translates the number between unit systems; it does not interpret whether a value is normal or abnormal. Reference ranges vary by laboratory, analytical method, age, sex, and population, and a converted value must always be read against the reporting laboratory's own reference interval. Nothing here is a substitute for a validated laboratory report or clinical judgment. Use it to understand and cross-check results, then rely on the reporting laboratory and a qualified clinician for decisions about care.
A clinician reviewing a synthetic transfer summary from a European hospital converts a panel of values one at a time — glucose in mmol/L, creatinine in µmol/L, cholesterol in mmol/L — back to the mg/dL figures a US chart is used to, cross-checking each one against the shown factor rather than trusting a single mental conversion for every analyte.
A patient advocate helping someone read a synthetic lab report that lists HbA1c only as "58 mmol/mol" enters it in IFCC mode and reads the NGSP percentage back out, confirming the affine equation rather than a rough estimate — the difference between an accurate 7.5% and a guess matters when comparing it to a prior result reported in the more familiar percentage.
A researcher assembling a synthetic multi-site dataset that mixes conventional and SI units for the same analytes runs every value through the converter to a single common unit before analysis, using the displayed molar mass to double-check that the correct factor was applied to each analyte rather than accidentally reusing one analyte's factor for another.
This converter does unit arithmetic only — it does not flag a value as high, low, or critical, and it has no knowledge of any reference range; a converted result still needs to be read against the reporting laboratory's own interval, which varies by method, age, sex, and population. It covers roughly 20 common analytes across seven panels; a less common analyte not on that list needs its own molar mass and a factor from a primary clinical chemistry reference rather than being estimated from a similar-sounding one. It is also not a substitute for laboratory information system logic — for automated, high-volume conversion inside a LIS or EHR interface, that logic belongs in validated interface code, not a one-off manual lookup.
A quick-reference summary of the factors this tool applies for a few of its most frequently used analytes:
| Analyte | Conventional unit | SI unit | Factor (conventional × factor = SI) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glucose | mg/dL | mmol/L | 0.0555 |
| Total cholesterol | mg/dL | mmol/L | 0.02586 |
| Creatinine | mg/dL | µmol/L | 88.42 |
| HbA1c | NGSP % | IFCC mmol/mol | Affine: 10.929 × NGSP% − 23.5 |
These factors, and the ones for every other analyte the tool covers, trace back to each substance's molar mass as published in standard clinical chemistry references such as the AMA Manual of Style's SI conversion tables.
A pasted lab report often carries a patient name or MRN alongside the values you are converting. If you need to share that report text with a colleague or a support ticket, run it through the HIPAA PHI Identifier first — it scans plain-text and CSV files for exposed identifiers so you can redact them before the values leave your hands, keeping the conversion workflow and the privacy check as two quick, local steps rather than one risky copy-paste.
No. Every conversion runs locally in your browser using JavaScript. The values you type, the analytes you choose, and any context you are working from are never transmitted, stored, or logged. You can confirm this in your browser's developer tools — no network requests are made while converting — and the tool keeps working offline once loaded.
Each analyte uses an established conversion factor derived from its molar mass, matching the values published in standard clinical references and the AMA Manual of Style SI conversion tables. The tool shows the exact factor and molar mass it used so you can verify the calculation. The arithmetic is exact; the result is only as clinically meaningful as the input value and the reference range you compare it against.
Around 20 common analytes across seven groups: diabetes and glucose (glucose, HbA1c); lipids (total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides); renal (creatinine, urea/BUN, uric acid); liver (bilirubin); electrolytes and minerals (calcium, magnesium, phosphate); hematology (hemoglobin); and hormones and vitamins (vitamin D, cortisol). More analytes are planned.
Conventional units report a mass of substance per volume, such as glucose in mg/dL. SI units report the amount of substance (moles) per volume, such as mmol/L. Most countries report in SI units, while the United States mostly uses conventional units, so converting between them is a routine need when reading international results or literature.
HbA1c is not a mass/molar conversion. NGSP percent (%) and IFCC mmol/mol are related by an internationally agreed affine equation: IFCC mmol/mol = 10.929 × NGSP% − 23.5 (equivalently 10.929 × (NGSP% − 2.15)). Because it has an intercept as well as a slope, you cannot convert HbA1c by multiplying alone, so the tool applies the full master equation.
The conversion factor is essentially the substance's molar mass combined with unit scaling. Because glucose, creatinine, and cholesterol each have a different molar mass, each has its own factor — 0.0555, 88.42, and 0.02586 respectively. There is no single universal multiplier; using the wrong analyte's factor gives a wrong answer, which is why the tool is analyte-aware.
No. This is an educational conversion and reference utility, not medical advice and not a substitute for a validated laboratory report. Reference ranges vary by laboratory, method, age, sex, and population. Always interpret any value against the reporting laboratory's own reference interval and with appropriate clinical judgment.
Yes. You can enter a conventional value and read the SI value, or enter an SI value and read the conventional one. The relationship is exact and reversible, and the tool shows the factor so the reverse calculation is transparent.
No. Quantities that are already unit-independent — such as a ratio of two concentrations, or a percentage — are the same in both systems and do not require a mass-to-molar factor. HbA1c percent is an exception only because it maps to a different reporting scale (IFCC mmol/mol) via a defined equation, not because of molar mass.
Yes. The layout is responsive and touch-friendly, and because all calculation is client-side, the tool works on a phone or tablet and continues to work with no network connection once the page has loaded.
Why labs report results in mg/dL or mmol/L, how conventional and SI units differ, a group-by-group tour, and the pitfalls of reading cross-border lab results.
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Exact mg/dL to mmol/L conversion factors and worked examples for glucose (0.0555), cholesterol (0.02586), triglycerides (0.01129) and creatinine (88.42).
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