Patients With Type 1 Diabetes May Need To Check Ketones More Often

Ketone monitoring is particularly important when patients with type I diabetes are sick.

MANY PEOPLE with Type 1 diabetes don’t check frequently enough for build up of ketones, acids that can cause serious damage to the kidneys and other organs, according to a US study. Ketone monitoring is particularly important when patients with type I diabetes are sick or have consistently high glucose levels, the authors write in Diabetes Care.

“Ketones occur when the body burns fat instead of using carbohydrates for fuel,” lead author Anastasia AlbaneseO’Neill told. “If high glucose levels and ketones remain untreated, there is an increased risk for a life-threatening condition called diabetic ketoacidosis, which requires hospitalisation,” said Albanese-O’Neill, a paediatrics researcher at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Dangerously high ketone levels can happen to anyone with diabetes, though the problem is rare in people with Type II, according to the American Diabetes Association.