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QUICKI Insulin Sensitivity Calculator

Enter fasting insulin and glucose to get the QUICKI index.

How it is calculated

Enter fasting insulin in µU/mL and fasting glucose in mg/dL, both from the same blood sample. The tool applies QUICKI = 1 / (log10(insulin) + log10(glucose)) and shows the index with four decimals. A higher index means better insulin sensitivity, and a lower one means greater insulin resistance.

Both inputs must be above zero, because a logarithm needs a positive number, and insulin × glucose must be above 1; at 1 or less the two logarithms add up to zero or less and the tool shows no result. The tool does no unit conversion: glucose in mmol/L would give a misleadingly high index, since the formula is built for mg/dL. It returns a number only and does not label it normal or abnormal, and it cannot replace a clinician’s interpretation. Cut-offs vary by laboratory and population, and the values are valid only for a fasting sample.

Worked example

Fasting insulin 10 µU/mL and fasting glucose 90 mg/dL. The base-10 logarithm of 10 is 1.0000, and the logarithm of 90 is 1.9542. Add them: 1.0000 + 1.9542 = 2.9542. Take the reciprocal: 1 / 2.9542 = 0.3385. For comparison, insulin 20 with glucose 100 gives 0.3029, a lower value that points to greater insulin resistance.

Try this example →

Common mistakes

  • Entering glucose in mmol/L. A value of 5 instead of 90 mg/dL gives an index around 0.59, outside the usual range, so multiply mmol/L by about 18 first.
  • Using a non-fasting sample. Insulin and glucose both rise after eating, which lowers the index and makes sensitivity look worse than it is.
  • Entering insulin in pmol/L instead of µU/mL. The numbers differ by a factor of roughly six, so the result will be wrong.
  • Mixing up the direction. A higher QUICKI is better sensitivity, the opposite of HOMA-IR, where a higher value means more resistance.
  • Using the index as a diagnosis. It is a single calculated number, and it needs a clinician to interpret it alongside other tests.

Sources

About this calculator

QUICKI (Quantitative Insulin Sensitivity Check Index) is computed as 1 / [log₁₀(fasting insulin, µU/mL) + log₁₀(fasting glucose, mg/dL)], a log-transform that linearizes the otherwise skewed relationship between insulin and glucose so the index behaves more predictably across a population. Values typically fall between about 0.30 and 0.45, with lower numbers indicating greater insulin resistance.

Because it needs only a single fasting blood draw rather than the multi-hour, multi-sample hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp considered the gold standard, endocrinologists and metabolic researchers use QUICKI (alongside HOMA-IR) as a practical outpatient screening tool for insulin resistance and early type 2 diabetes risk.

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Comments (1)

  • Editorial team

    Because the formula uses logarithms, the index moves slowly. At a glucose of 90, doubling insulin from 10 to 20 only lowers it from 0.3385 to 0.3072, so small differences between two results are small changes. Lab values also vary from one draw to the next. Your own clinician should interpret any number. Which lab units does your report use for insulin and glucose?

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