Calcium Equivalents

Calcium can be measured by the amount of the calcium salt (mg of the cation plus the anion, or mL of a specified concentration) or the amount of elemental calcium in milligrams (mg), in milliequivalents (mEq), or in millimoles (mmol). (Because calcium has a valence of +2, the milliequivalents equals two times the number of millimoles.) Its varied dosing units and conversion factors are potential sources of medication errors.

Enter a value in a cell and click the “Calculate” button in the same row to determine all the equivalent forms. Be aware that there may be some rounding error with multiple conversions.

Elemental Ca (mg)
Elemental Ca (mEq)
Elemental Ca (mmol)

CaChloride (g)
CaChloride 10% (ml)
CaGluconate (g)
CaGluconate 10% (ml)
CaAcetate (g)
CaCarbonate (g)
CaCitrate (g)
CaGlubionate (g)

	*Salt*	*Elemental Ca*
Calcium Acetate	1g	12.6 mEq	253 mg	6.30 mmol
Calcium Carbonate	1g	19.9 mEq	400 mg	9.96 mmol
Calcium Citrate	1g	10.5 mEq	211 mg	5.26 mmol
Calcium Chloride	1g	13.6 mEq	273 mg	6.80 mmol
Calcium Glubionate	1g	3.29 mEq	66 mg	1.64 mmol
Calcium Gluceptate	1g	4.08 mEq	82 mg	2.04 mmol
Calcium Gluconate	1g	4.65 mEq	93 mg	2.32 mmol

Created: April 7, 2000
Revised: June 7, 2011