DKA stands for which condition?

DKA stands for which condition?

• A. Diabetic ketoacidosis
• B. Diabetes mellitus
• C. Dead on arrival
• D. Diagnosis

Answer: (A)

DKA describes an acute, life-threatening crisis that can occur in diabetic patients when insulin is deficient. Without insulin, glucose isn’t properly utilized, so the body starts breaking down fats for energy, producing ketone bodies. Those ketones build up, causing ketosis and metabolic acidosis, while high blood glucose leads to dehydration from osmotic diuresis. That combination—hyperglycemia, ketonemia, acidosis, and dehydration—is what makes diabetic ketoacidosis a true emergency. The other options don’t fit as a condition: diabetes mellitus is the chronic disease itself; dead on arrival is a status term, not a condition; diagnosis is the act of identifying a disease, not a disease.

DKA describes an acute, life-threatening crisis that can occur in diabetic patients when insulin is deficient. Without insulin, glucose isn’t properly utilized, so the body starts breaking down fats for energy, producing ketone bodies. Those ketones build up, causing ketosis and metabolic acidosis, while high blood glucose leads to dehydration from osmotic diuresis. That combination—hyperglycemia, ketonemia, acidosis, and dehydration—is what makes diabetic ketoacidosis a true emergency. The other options don’t fit as a condition: diabetes mellitus is the chronic disease itself; dead on arrival is a status term, not a condition; diagnosis is the act of identifying a disease, not a disease.