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Bicarbonate by age and sex

What’s typical for bicarbonate at every adult age, from a U.S. government health survey of 19,128 people, next to the usual ranges labs print.

NHANES 2015–2016, 2017–March 2020 (pre-pandemic), August 2021–August 202319,128 adultsAI-verified against cited sources. Awaiting expert review

What’s typical at one age

Pick a sex and an age to see the spread among U.S. adults like that, and type a result to see where it falls.

U.S. women aged 40–49

1,530 people in NHANES, 2015–2016, 2017–March 2020 (pre-pandemic), August 2021–August 2023.

Women aged 40–49, 1,530 people: median 23, middle half 21 to 25, middle 90% 19 to 27 mmol/L. Usual range 20 to 29.

Median (half are lower)
23 mmol/L
Middle half of people
21 to 25
Middle 90% of people
19 to 27
Usual range a lab prints
20 to 29

Shaded: the middle 90% and middle half of people. Dark line: the median. The bracket above: the usual range.

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Across adult life

NHANES describes the US civilian, non-institutionalized population, not a 'healthy' reference group. People with disease, on medication, fasting or not (except fasting-subsample markers), smokers and so on are all included. A percentile says where a value sits among Americans of that sex and age, not whether it is normal.

How Bicarbonate varies with age in the U.S.Shaded: middle 90% and middle 50% of people. Line: the median. mmol/L. Point at any age, or focus the chart and use the arrow keys, to read both sexes in words.

Use the left and right arrow keys to read each age. Shift moves five years.

Reference data derived from CDC/NCHS National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), cycles 2015-2016, 2017-March 2020 (pre-pandemic), August 2021-August 2023. Analysis by bloodtesttracker.com; not endorsed by CDC, NCHS or HHS.

Every percentile

Download this table (CSV)

The 25th percentile means a quarter of people in that group had a lower result. In mmol/L. A dash means too few people were measured for the survey to publish that number.

Women

Bicarbonate percentiles for U.S. women by age, in mmol/L, NHANES 2015–2016, 2017–March 2020 (pre-pandemic), August 2021–August 2023
AgePeople2.5th5th10th25thMedian75th90th95th97.5th
18–291,683181920212224252626
30–391,514181920212324252627
40–491,530181920212325262728
50–591,635192021222425272728
60–691,919192021222425272829
70–791,082192021222426272829
80+585202021232426272829
All adults9,948181920222325262728

Men

Bicarbonate percentiles for U.S. men by age, in mmol/L, NHANES 2015–2016, 2017–March 2020 (pre-pandemic), August 2021–August 2023
AgePeople2.5th5th10th25thMedian75th90th95th97.5th
18–291,640202021222425272728
30–391,307192021222425272829
40–491,311192021222425272828
50–591,427192020222425272828
60–691,803192020222425272829
70–791,129192021222426272828
80+563192021222426282929
All adults9,180192021222425272828

About these numbers

  • NHANES describes the US civilian, non-institutionalized population, not a 'healthy' reference group. People with disease, on medication, fasting or not (except fasting-subsample markers), smokers and so on are all included. A percentile says where a value sits among Americans of that sex and age, not whether it is normal.
  • Assays differ between labs and between NHANES cycles. Values from a commercial lab can sit a few percent higher or lower than NHANES for the same blood. Earlier cycles were bridged to the 2021-2023 method with NCHS equations where NCHS recommends it.
  • Age 80 and over is top-coded at 80 in public NHANES files, so the 80+ cell mixes everyone 80 and older.
  • 2021-2023 (cycle L) had a 25.7% exam response rate and no race/income oversampling; NCHS advises caution when combining it with earlier cycles.

Reference data derived from CDC/NCHS National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), cycles 2015-2016, 2017-March 2020 (pre-pandemic), August 2021-August 2023. Analysis by bloodtesttracker.com; not endorsed by CDC, NCHS or HHS.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Data. Hyattsville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015-2016, 2017-March 2020 (pre-pandemic), August 2021-August 2023. https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/

How we use survey data

The usual range at every age

The reference range labs print, for each age group. Ranges differ a little between labs, so the range on your own report is the one your result is judged against.

Use the left and right arrow keys to step through the age groups. Every range is also in the table below.

Usual range of Bicarbonate by age, in mmol/L
WhoUsual range
2–517–26 mmol/L
6–1219–27 mmol/L
13+20–29 mmol/L

Sources: Labcorp, Mayo Clinic Laboratories