NRI Blood Report Decoder: Converting UK, Canada and Australia Lab Units to Indian Values

The short answer: The same blood test is reported in different units in different countries, which is why an NRI often cannot read their own report against the Indian reference charts their family doctor uses. The big ones: HbA1c is reported as a percentage in India, the US and Canada, but as mmol/mol in the UK - so a UK reading of "48 mmol/mol" is the same as the "6.5%" an Indian doctor talks about. Blood glucose and cholesterol are in mg/dL in India and the US, but in mmol/L in the UK, Canada and Australia - to go from mmol/L to Indian mg/dL, multiply glucose by 18 and cholesterol by about 39. Creatinine is in mg/dL in India and the US, but µmol/L in the UK, Canada and Australia. This page gives you the conversions and worked examples so you can translate a report from abroad into the numbers your Indian doctor - and our other guides - use.

"A large share of my NRI clients send me a lab report in units their doctor back home has never used. A parent in Mumbai is trying to help over the phone, looking at a UK report that says 48 mmol/mol, with no idea it means 6.5%. The medicine is identical everywhere - only the units on the page change. This is the translation table nobody hands you." - Dt. Trishala Goswami, MSc Clinical Nutritionist, Certified Diabetes Educator

Read this first

Converting the units does not change the reference ranges. A number means the same thing physiologically once converted, but "normal" ranges can still differ slightly between labs and populations - and for people of Indian origin, some thresholds are interpreted more cautiously than Western defaults. Use this page to translate the number; use your doctor and the appropriate reference chart to interpret it.

Always confirm against your own lab's printed reference range. Every report prints its own reference interval next to the result. That is the one that applies to that sample. The conversions here are exact arithmetic; the interpretation is your clinician's.

This is a reference, not a diagnosis. It exists so you and your doctor are looking at the same number in the same units.

Which country uses which units

A quick map of where the confusion comes from. India broadly follows the US "conventional units" system, so a US report usually reads the same as an Indian one. The UK, Canada and Australia use the SI (mmol/L) system for most tests - that is where NRIs hit the wall.

The pattern to remember: UK, Canada and Australia use mmol/L for sugar and cholesterol; the UK is the odd one out on HbA1c with mmol/mol.

HbA1c: percentage versus mmol/mol

This is the single most common NRI confusion, because the two numbers look nothing like each other. A "good" HbA1c is either "6.5%" or "48 mmol/mol" depending on which country's report you are holding - and someone unfamiliar with the second format can badly misjudge it.

To convert:

• From mmol/mol to % (IFCC to DCCT): % = (mmol/mol ÷ 10.93) + 2.15
• From % to mmol/mol: mmol/mol = (% − 2.15) × 10.93

You rarely need the formula - this table covers the range that matters:

So if a UK lab reports 48 mmol/mol, that is 6.5% - the diabetes threshold. 53 mmol/mol is 7.0%, a typical target. Once you have the percentage, our HbA1c chart for Indian adults interprets it against Indian thresholds, and the HbA1c to average-glucose converter turns it into a mental picture.

One more format you may see on a US report: eAG (estimated average glucose) in mg/dL, which expresses HbA1c as an average sugar. That is a third way of writing the same information.

Blood glucose: mmol/L versus mg/dL

India and the US report glucose in mg/dL. The UK, Canada and Australia report it in mmol/L. The conversion is a clean multiply-by-18.

To convert:

• From mmol/L to mg/dL: mg/dL = mmol/L × 18
• From mg/dL to mmol/L: mmol/L = mg/dL ÷ 18

So a UK fasting glucose of 7.0 mmol/L is 126 mg/dL - the diabetes threshold your Indian doctor recognises. A post-meal 11.1 mmol/L is 200 mg/dL.

If you use a glucometer or CGM bought abroad, check which unit it is set to - many can be switched between mmol/L and mg/dL in the settings, and it is worth setting it to match whichever doctor is guiding you so you are not converting in your head every time.

Cholesterol and lipids: mmol/L versus mg/dL

Total cholesterol, LDL and HDL all convert with the same factor (about 39); triglycerides use a different one (about 89), because it is a different molecule.

Cholesterol, LDL, HDL:

• From mmol/L to mg/dL: mg/dL = mmol/L × 38.7
• From mg/dL to mmol/L: mmol/L = mg/dL ÷ 38.7

Triglycerides:

• From mmol/L to mg/dL: mg/dL = mmol/L × 88.5
• From mg/dL to mmol/L: mmol/L = mg/dL ÷ 88.5

So a UK LDL of 2.6 mmol/L is 100 mg/dL - the optimal figure Indian reports quote.

Creatinine and kidney function

Creatinine is reported in mg/dL in India and the US, but in µmol/L in the UK, Canada and Australia - and the two look wildly different, because the conversion factor is large.

To convert:

• From µmol/L to mg/dL: mg/dL = µmol/L ÷ 88.4
• From mg/dL to µmol/L: µmol/L = mg/dL × 88.4

So a UK creatinine of 90 µmol/L is about 1.0 mg/dL - normal - even though "90" looks alarming next to an Indian scale where normal is around 1.

eGFR is reported in the same unit everywhere - mL/min/1.73m² - so no conversion is needed. One thing worth knowing: the calculation of eGFR was updated internationally to remove a race-based adjustment, so an older Indian report and a recent Western one may use slightly different equations. If you are tracking kidney function across countries, ask each lab which equation it used. For what these numbers mean for eating Indian food, see our kidney diet reference and the guide to diabetes and kidney disease together.

Vitamins D and B12

Two deficiencies extremely common in Indians, and both change units abroad.

Vitamin D:

• From nmol/L to ng/mL: ng/mL = nmol/L ÷ 2.5
• From ng/mL to nmol/L: nmol/L = ng/mL × 2.5

A UK vitamin D of 50 nmol/L is 20 ng/mL - the lower edge of sufficiency on the Indian scale. 75 nmol/L is 30 ng/mL.

Vitamin B12:

• From pmol/L to pg/mL: pg/mL = pmol/L ÷ 0.738
• From pg/mL to pmol/L: pmol/L = pg/mL × 0.738

A UK B12 of 148 pmol/L is about 200 pg/mL - the lower reference limit. B12 deficiency is common in Indian vegetarians and in anyone on long-term metformin, so this is a number worth being able to read wherever you are.

Ferritin is the easy one: it is reported as ng/mL in India and µg/L abroad, and those are numerically identical - 30 ng/mL is 30 µg/L. No conversion.

Worked example: a UK report, translated

Say an NRI in London sends this home:

• HbA1c 50 mmol/mol → 6.7% → above the 6.5% diabetes threshold
• Fasting glucose 7.4 mmol/L → 133 mg/dL → above the 126 mg/dL threshold
• LDL 3.4 mmol/L → 132 mg/dL → borderline high
• Triglycerides 2.0 mmol/L → 177 mg/dL → high
• Creatinine 85 µmol/L → 0.96 mg/dL → normal
• Vitamin D 40 nmol/L → 16 ng/mL → deficient

Now the parent in India, and any Indian reference chart, can read it. The picture - newly crossing into diabetes with an unhelpful lipid profile and low vitamin D - is exactly what it would be at home, once the units are translated.

What most people miss

Decimal points are the danger. SI values often carry a decimal (5.6, 7.0, 2.6) while conventional values are whole numbers (100, 126, 100). Misreading a decimal place is the commonest error - double-check any figure that seems impossibly high or low before acting on it.

A converted number still needs Indian-context interpretation. Converting 5.5% to 37 mmol/mol is arithmetic; deciding whether 5.5% matters for a lean Indian with central obesity and a family history is clinical judgement, and Indian thresholds can be stricter than Western defaults. See why Indians get diabetes at a lower weight.

Fasting requirements and reference ranges vary by lab, not just by country. Do not assume a UK lab's "normal" flag maps exactly onto an Indian lab's. When in doubt, read the printed reference range on the report itself.

Keep one consistent system when tracking over time. If you are monitoring a trend across countries, convert everything into one unit system - ideally the one your treating doctor uses - so you are comparing like with like rather than chasing numbers that only look different because of units.

This article is educational and is not a substitute for medical advice. The conversions are standard arithmetic, but interpreting results, reference ranges and treatment decisions belongs with your doctor. Always read the reference range printed on your own report, and confirm any result that will change your treatment.

Related reading

References

• International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC). HbA1c standardization and IFCC-DCCT master equation. ifcc.org
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Units used in UK laboratory reporting. nice.org.uk
• Indian Council of Medical Research - National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN). Nutritive Value of Indian Foods.