Uric Acid Normal Range by Sex: What 8.4, 6.8 and 6.0 Mean

At a Glance

This test measures uric acid (also reported as urate) in a serum or plasma sample, usually in mg/dL. The interval stored on this page is 3.8 to 8.4 mg/dL, and every result here is flagged against it.

That interval is Labcorp's range for men aged 18 and over. It is not a range for everyone. Labcorp's range for women aged 18 to 50 is 2.6 to 6.2 mg/dL, and Mayo Clinic Laboratories publishes 3.7 to 8.0 for males aged 16 and over and 2.7 to 6.1 for females aged 13 and over. Mayo states that a patient's age and sex are required to report this test. If you are a woman, the interval on this page is not the one to read your result against; the one printed on your own report is.

Two other numbers you may hear, 6.8 and below 6 mg/dL, are not reference ranges at all; the next sections explain what each one answers.

The range on your report depends on your sex and age

Uric acid reference ranges are published separately for men and women, and for women Labcorp publishes different ranges by age:

Children have their own age-specific intervals at both laboratories, and Mayo states that reference values have not been established below twelve months of age. This page is written for adult results.

The two laboratories differ by a few tenths for men and for women under about 50; Labcorp's women's ranges then rise with age (to 7.2 at 51 to 70 and 7.9 at 71 and over), so the gap from Mayo's 6.1 widens. Between men and women the gap at the top is about 2 mg/dL for adults under about 50, and narrows with age in Labcorp's ranges.

This page cannot apply a sex-specific range to your result, because the stored interval is a single adult male one. If you are a woman, read your result against the interval printed on your own report, which is the one it was actually compared against. Our uric acid page for women uses Labcorp's range for women aged 18 to 50 and explains how the limits change after 50.

Three numbers, three questions

A reference interval answers: what does this laboratory's population look like? It is the range your result is flagged against. 3.8–8.4 here, 2.6–6.2 for Labcorp's women aged 18 to 50, and so on.

A definition of hyperuricemia answers: when is a level called raised? Here the sources do not agree on one number, as their own wording shows. Mayo notes that hyperuricemia "is most commonly defined by serum or plasma uric acid concentrations above 8.0 mg/dL in males or above 6.1 mg/dL in females." StatPearls defines it as "usually greater than 6 mg/dL in women and 7 mg/dL in men." The 2020 ACR gout guideline, for its one recommendation about people without gout, defines asymptomatic hyperuricemia as a serum urate of 6.8 mg/dL or above with no prior gout flares or tophi.

A treatment target answers: what level is urate-lowering medicine aiming for? The ACR guideline strongly recommends a target below 6 mg/dL for all patients receiving urate-lowering therapy, and Labcorp prints "Therapeutic target for gout patients: <6.0" with its reference range. This number applies to people being treated for gout. It is not a healthy-range limit for everyone.

Where they overlap is where the questions start. Labcorp's male interval runs to 8.4, above ACR's 6.8, so a man at 7.5 is inside the range on his report and above the guideline's definition at once. Both are true; they answer different questions.

What level of uric acid is dangerous?

There is no single number in the sources at which a raised uric acid becomes dangerous for someone who has never had gout, and the sources are specific about why not.

One group is different. Labcorp and Mayo both note that uric acid is monitored in people receiving cytotoxic (cancer) drugs, and Mayo names the diagnosis and treatment of kidney failure as the test's first use. In those settings your care team reads the result in context, and nothing below replaces that.

Most people with a raised level never develop gout. Labcorp writes that "Only a minority of individuals with hyperuricemia develop gout. An increased uric acid level does not necessarily translate to a diagnosis of gout." Mayo notes that asymptomatic hyperuricemia is frequently found on routine screening and that "few of these patients ever develop the clinical syndrome of gout."

For people without gout, the ACR guideline conditionally recommends against starting urate-lowering medicine for asymptomatic hyperuricemia. Treatment did reduce first gout flares in the trials it summarizes, which were designed to study cardiovascular outcomes, but incident gout was uncommon in both groups: fewer than 1% on treatment versus 5% on placebo over three years, which the guideline expresses as about 24 people treated for three years to prevent one first flare.

Mayo also notes that people with asymptomatic hyperuricemia are followed long term because many are at risk of developing kidney disease, and StatPearls states that "it is unclear what the long-term effects of hyperuricemia are on overall cardiovascular health, renal function, and overall morbidity." So a raised result is worth following with your clinician; it is not one the sources attach a danger threshold to.

For people who already have gout, the numbers are different and are set by the gout guideline: a target below 6 mg/dL on treatment, and, among people experiencing their first flare, a serum urate above 9 mg/dL is one of the situations in which the ACR guideline conditionally recommends starting treatment.

Converting between mg/dL and µmol/L

Some laboratories report uric acid in µmol/L or mmol/L. LOINC records urate's molar mass as 168.112 g/mole, which gives 1 mg/dL = 59.48 µmol/L (and 1 µmol/L = 0.0168 mg/dL). Rounded:

A laboratory reporting in µmol/L prints its interval in µmol/L too.

How to read your result

These steps read a single adult result. Women should read the steps against their own report's interval, not the stored one.

Below 3.8 mg/dL. Below the stored male interval and flagged low here. For women, results down to 2.6 to 3.1 (Labcorp, by age) or 2.7 (Mayo) are inside their own range. A result of 2.4 is below every adult range in the table for both sexes, and above the 2.0 level Mayo notes is "often" used to define hypouricemia, which is much less common than a raised level.

3.8 to under 6.0 mg/dL. Inside the stored interval, and below the 6 mg/dL treatment target that applies to people with gout on medicine.

6.0 to under 6.8 mg/dL. Inside the stored interval and inside Labcorp's and Mayo's ranges for men. For women this is around or above the upper limit of Mayo's range (6.1) and Labcorp's range for ages 18 to 50 (6.2), and inside Labcorp's ranges for women 51 and over.

6.8 to under 8.4 mg/dL. Inside the stored interval, and at or above the level the ACR gout guideline uses to define asymptomatic hyperuricemia. For men, inside Labcorp's interval; above 8.0 it is also above Mayo's interval and above the level Mayo notes is most commonly used to define hyperuricemia in males. For women, above Mayo's range (6.1) and Labcorp's 18 to 50 range (6.2); inside Labcorp's 51 to 70 range up to 7.2 and its 71-and-over range up to 7.9; above every women's range beyond 7.9.

8.4 mg/dL exactly. The upper limit of the stored interval, so not flagged here. It is above Mayo's male range (3.7 to 8.0) and above every female range in the table.

Above 8.4 mg/dL. Flagged high here, and above every adult range Labcorp and Mayo publish, for men and women. What it means depends on things this page cannot see: whether you have had gout, your kidney function, your medicines, and whether the level is the same on a repeat test.

If you have gout and take urate-lowering medicine, the number that matters is the treatment target: below 6 mg/dL, per the ACR guideline.

If you remember only one thing

Check which range your result was compared against, and whether it was a men's or a women's range. Then keep the reference range, the 6.8 definition and the below-6 treatment target apart, because they answer three different questions.

Two people, same result

Two adults are each told their uric acid is 7.0 mg/dL.

The first is a man. His result is inside Labcorp's male interval (3.8 to 8.4) and inside Mayo's (3.7 to 8.0), so his report is unlikely to flag it. It is also above 6.8, the level the ACR gout guideline uses to define asymptomatic hyperuricemia.

The second is a woman aged 40. Her result is above Labcorp's interval for women aged 18 to 50 (2.6 to 6.2) and above Mayo's female interval (2.7 to 6.1), and above the level Mayo notes is most commonly used to define hyperuricemia in females. On this page, which applies the male interval, it would not be flagged.

Same number, two readings, and neither tells either person whether anything needs to happen; that depends on symptoms, history and a clinician.

What this result cannot tell you

It cannot tell you whether you have gout. Labcorp states that an increased uric acid level does not necessarily translate to a diagnosis of gout, and only a minority of people with a raised level develop it. A normal result does not rule gout out either: NICE notes that serum urate can be lower during a gout flare, and when gout is strongly suspected it recommends repeating the test at least two weeks after the flare has settled.

It cannot tell you whether you need treatment. For people without gout, the ACR guideline conditionally recommends against starting urate-lowering medicine for a raised level alone.

It cannot tell you why a level is raised. Labcorp and Mayo list many causes, from dietary purines to reduced excretion by the kidneys, and the test does not separate them.

It cannot tell you how to read a result in pregnancy. This page does not provide pregnancy-specific interpretation; that is a question for your maternity team.

Common interpretation mistakes

Reading 8.4 as "high" when your range ends at 8.4. 8.4 is the upper limit of Labcorp's adult male interval, the one stored here. A result of 8.4 sits at the edge of that range, not above it, although it is above Mayo's male range.

Treating 6.0 or 6.8 as a reference limit. Below 6 is a treatment target for people with gout; 6.8 is a guideline definition used for one recommendation. Neither is the range your result is flagged against.

Assuming a raised level means gout is coming. Both laboratories say only a minority of people with hyperuricemia develop gout.

Comparing µmol/L and mg/dL directly. 1 mg/dL is about 59.5 µmol/L, so 8.4 mg/dL and 500 µmol/L are about the same result.

Missing a medicine that makes the result read falsely low. Mayo lists substances that interfere with the test, including high levels of an acetaminophen metabolite and N-acetylcysteine.

Questions your doctor may ask

Whether you have ever had a gout flare or a hot, swollen joint. Your kidney function, since both laboratories list reduced kidney excretion as a cause of a raised level. Which medicines you take, especially diuretics or high-dose aspirin. Whether you had been fasting or losing weight, which Labcorp lists as raising the level. And what your result was the last time it was measured.

Read together with

Creatinine and the estimated glomerular filtration rate, because reduced excretion by the kidneys is one of the causes both laboratories list, and Mayo names renal failure as the first use of this test.

Clinical pearls

Sex is not optional for this test. Mayo requires a patient's age and sex to report it.

Some results read falsely low. Mayo lists alpha-methyldopa, desferoxamine and calcium dobesilate as causing falsely decreased levels at therapeutic concentrations, and notes results can be falsely decreased with elevated NAPQI (a metabolite of acetaminophen), N-acetylcysteine and metamizole.

Medicines move the real level in both directions. Labcorp lists diuretics among those that raise it and high-dose aspirin among those that lower it.

Clinical Takeaway

The interval stored here, 3.8 to 8.4 mg/dL, is an adult male one; women's ranges top out between 6.1 and 7.9 depending on laboratory and age. 6.8, the ACR guideline's definition of asymptomatic hyperuricemia for either sex, falls inside the stored male interval. Below 6 is a treatment target for people with gout, not a general limit. Most people with a raised level never develop gout, and without gout the guideline conditionally recommends against starting medicine on the number alone.

In one sentence

Read uric acid against your own sex's range; 6.8 is one guideline's definition of a raised level, and below 6 is a gout-treatment target.

Bottom line

Check whether your range is a men's or a women's range. A raised level is frequently found on screening, usually does not lead to gout, and is a reason for follow-up rather than alarm.

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