Keep every result in one place
One reading tells you little. What matters is whether your results get under the target and stay there. Gout Journal, our iPhone app, records each uric acid result in your unit and charts it against the target, alongside your medication and flares.
Uric acid conversion table
Labs report uric acid in one of three units, depending on the country. The same result in each:
| mg/dL | mmol/L | μmol/L |
|---|---|---|
| 3.0 | 0.18 | 178 |
| 4.0 | 0.24 | 238 |
| 5.0 | 0.30 | 297 |
| 6.0 | 0.36 | 357 |
| 6.8 | 0.40 | 405 |
| 7.0 | 0.42 | 416 |
| 8.0 | 0.48 | 476 |
| 9.0 | 0.54 | 535 |
| 10.0 | 0.59 | 595 |
| 11.0 | 0.65 | 654 |
| 12.0 | 0.71 | 714 |
Bold rows: 6.0 mg/dL is the gout treatment target, and 6.8 mg/dL is roughly where urate stops staying dissolved and crystals can form.
How to convert uric acid by hand
- mg/dL to mmol/L: divide by 16.81.
- mmol/L to μmol/L: multiply by 1,000.
- μmol/L to mg/dL: divide by about 59.5.
The factor comes from the weight of a uric acid molecule, about 168 grams per mole. European guidance writes the gout target as 360 μmol/L. Converted exactly, 6 mg/dL is 357 μmol/L: the difference is rounding.
Your lab's normal range is not the gout target
A lab report flags a result as high or low against the lab's own reference range, often called the normal range. MedlinePlus, the US National Library of Medicine's health encyclopedia, gives these typical values and notes that ranges vary slightly between labs:
| Typical range | mg/dL | mmol/L | μmol/L |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women | 3.0–7.1 | 0.18–0.42 | 178–422 |
| Men | 4.0–8.6 | 0.24–0.51 | 238–512 |
The gout treatment target is a different number with a different purpose. The American College of Rheumatology strongly recommends keeping uric acid under 6.0 mg/dL for people on urate-lowering treatment, and European guidance aims lower, under 5.0 mg/dL, in severe gout. Urate starts to form crystals above about 6.8 mg/dL.
So a result can sit inside the lab's normal range and still be above the gout target: the typical upper limit for men, 8.6 mg/dL, is above the point where crystals form. Which target applies to you is a question for your doctor. See all of this on one uric acid level chart.
Why do levels differ so much between people? Diet explains under 1% of the difference. Genes explain about a quarter, many of them the ones that set how your kidneys clear uric acid: see the tank, the tap and the kidneys. And for why gout treatment is organised around one number, read why the target is a number, not a feeling.
Keep reading
- Start here Uric acid target for gout: the number that actually matters Most gout advice is about food. The guidelines are about a number: your serum urate level, and whether it is under the treatment target.
- Still above target? Uric acid still high on allopurinol? Check the dose Allopurinol is meant to start low and then be increased until your uric acid is under target. For a lot of people, the second half never happens.
- Flares after starting treatment Why gout flares can get worse after starting allopurinol Starting treatment often brings more attacks, not fewer. A snow-on-a-roof analogy from a rheumatology journal explains why, and why it passes.
- High result, no gout yet A high uric acid result, but no symptoms Your blood test flagged a high urate level and nothing hurts. The guidelines recommend against treating it, and against ignoring it. Both, for good reasons.
More free tools: the uric acid level chart, with lab ranges and gout thresholds on one scale, and a printable gout log.
Sources
- 2020 American College of Rheumatology Guideline for the Management of Gout. Arthritis Care & Research, 2020.
- 2016 updated EULAR evidence-based recommendations for the management of gout. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 2017.
- Overview of Serum Uric Acid Treatment Targets in Gout: Why Less Than 6 mg/dL? Postgraduate Medicine, 2016.
- Uric acid - blood. MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, reviewed April 2025.
This page explains numbers. It does not diagnose anything or tell you what to take.