Triglyceride to HDL ratio calculator
Your triglycerides divided by your HDL cholesterol. Researchers use it as a simple hint of insulin resistance, but there is no standard cutoff. Type your results in the units on your report and it works out TG/HDL Ratio as you type, in your browser.
AI-verified against cited sources. Awaiting expert reviewLast reviewed 2026-10-03Heart & Cholesterol
Type your results above, or fill in the example, to see TG/HDL Ratio.
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Educational information, not medical advice. Blood Test Tracker doesn’t diagnose or treat, and it doesn’t replace your clinician. Talk with your clinician before changing medications, supplements or care.
How it’s worked out
The formula
TG/HDL = triglycerides (mg/dL) / HDL-C (mg/dL). If both are in mmol/L the same ratio comes out about 0.437 times as large (38.67 / 88.57), so always note which unit was used.
Fasting before the blood test: recommended.
A worked example
Example numbers, not anyone’s real results, run through the same code as the calculator above.
| Triglycerides | 150 mg/dL |
|---|---|
| HDL | 50 mg/dL |
| TG/HDL Ratio | 3.0 ratio (from mg/dL) |
What TG/HDL Ratio tells you
This ratio divides your triglycerides by your HDL ("good") cholesterol, both taken from a standard lipid panel. High triglycerides and low HDL tend to go together when the body responds less well to insulin, so the ratio is sometimes used as a quick hint of insulin resistance. It is not a diagnosis, and it is not part of any guideline. The number depends on the unit used: a ratio worked out from mg/dL values is about 2.3 times larger than one worked out from mmol/L values.
A higher ratio has been linked to more heart disease and earlier death in large groups of people, with or without diabetes. A 2026 review of 27 cohort studies found a hazard ratio of about 1.5 for cardiovascular events, although the certainty of the evidence ranged from very low to moderate. There is no standard cutoff, so your clinician is more likely to follow triglycerides, HDL, LDL, non-HDL cholesterol or blood sugar markers directly.
Read the full page on TG/HDL Ratio, with what a high or low result can mean.
Sources
The equation
- Use of metabolic markers to identify overweight individuals who are insulin resistant, Annals of Internal Medicine (2003)
- The modifying effect of diabetes on the association between triglyceride to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio and cardiovascular risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine (2026)
- Cholesterol (PubChem CID 5997), PubChem, National Library of Medicine
- Triolein (PubChem CID 5497163), PubChem, National Library of Medicine
AI-verified against cited sources. Awaiting expert review. Last reviewed 2026-10-03. The calculator is version 1.0.0 of our code for this equation, tested against published examples. How we build and check these pages.