MedUnits                package:gdata                R Documentation

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_S_t_a_n_d_a_r_d (_S_I) _a_n_d _U_S '_C_o_n_v_e_n_t_i_o_n_a_l' _U_n_i_t_s _f_o_r _c_o_m_m_o_n _m_e_d_i_c_a_l
_m_e_a_s_u_r_e_m_e_n_t_s.

_D_e_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n:

     Table of conversions between Intertional Standard (SI) and US
     'Conventional' Units for common medical measurements.

_U_s_a_g_e:

     data(MedUnits)

_F_o_r_m_a_t:

     A data frame with the following 5 variables.

     _A_b_b_r_e_v_i_a_t_i_o_n Common Abbreviation (mostly missing)

     _M_e_a_s_u_r_e_m_e_n_t Measurement Name

     _S_I_U_n_i_t SI Unit

     _C_o_n_v_e_r_s_i_o_n Conversion factor

     _C_o_n_v_e_t_i_o_n_a_l_U_n_i_t Conventional Unit

_D_e_t_a_i_l_s:

     Medical laboratories and practitioners in the United States use
     one set of units (the so-called 'Conventional' units) for
     reporting the results of clinical laboratory measurements, while
     the rest of the world uses the International Standard (SI) units. 
     It often becomes necessary to translate between these units when
     participating in international collaborations.

     This data set provides constants for converting between SI and US
     'Conventional' units.

     To perform the conversion from SI units to US 'Conventional' units
     do:

     Measurement in 'ConventionalUnit' = (Measurement in 'SIUnit') / 
     'Conversion'

     To perform conversion from 'Conventional' to SI units do:

     Measurement in 'SIUnit' = (Measurement in 'ConventionalUnit') *
     'Conversion'

_S_o_u_r_c_e:

     <URL: http://www.globalrph.com/conv_si.htm>

_S_e_e _A_l_s_o:

     The function 'ConvertMedUnits' automates the conversion task.

_E_x_a_m_p_l_e_s:

     data(MedUnits)

     # show available conversions
     MedUnits$Measurement

     # utility function
     matchUnits <- function(X) MedUnits[ grep(X, MedUnits$Measurement),]

     # Convert SI Glucose measurement to 'Conventional' units
     GlucoseSI = c(5, 5.4, 5, 5.1, 5.6, 5.1, 4.9, 5.2, 5.5) # in SI Units
     GlucoseUS = GlucoseSI / matchUnits("Glucose")$Conversion 
     cbind(GlucoseSI,GlucoseUS)

     # also consider using ConvertMedUnits()
     ConvertMedUnits( GlucoseSI, "Glucose", to="US" )

