How To Assess The Risk Factors For Diabetic Ketoacidosis

What are the risk factors for diabetic ketoacidosis?

It happens in people for a variety of reasons. One, if you don't know you have diabetes, you can develop diabetic ketoacidosis because you don't know to get insulin because nobody told you. The second reason is because you get an infection. So, let's say you get pneumonia and your body becomes very resistant to insulin as bodies tend to and you don't get enough extra insulin to compensate. Then you can go into ketoacidosis. The third reason -- and one of the reasons I see this in my population in East Los Angeles -- is because they run out of insulin: they don't have a refill; they can't find a doctor. If you don't take your insulin, this can happen. So, people with Type I diabetes must take their insulin and they must have access to insulin. Otherwise, they can get ketoacidosis; and, in the worst case scenario, they would die.