An AST of 49
49 U/L
Mildly raised
AST of 49 U/L is mildly above the usual reference range by commonly reported adult reference ranges
| Where it fallscommonly reported adult reference ranges | Mildly raised |
|---|---|
| AST | 49U/L |
| Usual reference range | 10 – 40U/L |
| Within the reference range | under 41U/L |
| Mildly raisedthis reading | 41 – 79U/L |
| Moderately raised | 80 – 199U/L |
| Markedly raised | 200 and aboveU/L |
Notes
- One reading is not a diagnosis. AST moves with the liver, but also skeletal muscle, heart muscle and red cells — which is what makes it less specific than ALT. A clinician reads it against your history and usually against a repeat, not on its own.
- Reference ranges differ between laboratories. The bands above follow commonly reported adult reference ranges. Your own report prints the range its analyser was calibrated against, and that printed range is the one to compare against — a difference of a few units between labs is normal and does not mean either is wrong.
- AST is not a liver test on its own. It is released by skeletal muscle, heart muscle and red blood cells as well as by liver cells, so a hard gym session, a fall, an intramuscular injection or a haemolysed sample can raise it with a perfectly healthy liver. ALT on the same report is the more liver-specific of the pair.
- The ratio is the useful part. AST above roughly twice ALT is the classic alcohol-related pattern; ALT above AST is the usual picture in fatty liver and viral hepatitis. Neither ratio diagnoses anything alone, but it is what decides which question gets asked next.
What ast of 49 U/L means
A reading of 49 U/L falls in Mildly raised by commonly reported adult reference ranges.
The usual reference range is 10 – 40 U/L.
Reading it next to the rest of the picture
A single figure is a snapshot. What somebody experienced does with it is set by what sits around it — the other figures on the same report, the history behind them, and what the previous result was. Two people can hand over the same number and leave with different advice, and neither has been given the wrong answer.
That is also why the bands on this page are drawn from a named source rather than a rounded rule of thumb. A threshold is a decision point somebody argued for in print, not a law of nature, and knowing which document a line comes from is what lets you tell a meaningful result from a borderline one.
Nearby sizes
Read more
- CBC Normal Ranges — What Each Line on the Result MeansA value marked high or low on a CBC is common and is often not significant on its own. The pattern across lines is what a clinician reads.
- eGFR Normal Range: Above 90, and the Stages Below IteGFR is an estimate built from creatinine, age and sex — and the estimate is better than the raw creatinine it comes from, for a reason worth understanding.
- TSH Normal Range: 0.4–4.0 mIU/L, and the Number Moves BackwardsTSH runs opposite to the gland it measures. High TSH means the thyroid is underactive, and that inversion catches almost everyone reading their own result.
- Cholesterol Numbers: What Total, LDL, HDL and Triglycerides MeanA lipid panel reports four numbers and the one printed largest — total cholesterol — is the least useful of them.