Checking for Ketones
Check your urine or blood for ketones if you are sick or have symptoms of ketoacidosis. If the test is positive, you need immediate medical care.
How to Check for Ketones
Urine Ketones: Examples: Ketostixs® or Chemstrips®
Urine is applied to reagent strip and the color change shows the
level of ketones.
- Advantages:
- Easy to use
- Portable
- Reasonably priced
- Disadvantages:
- Results are not current; they may lag by as many as three hours
- Color changes are categorized as trace, small, medium, and large only
- Dehydration can affect results
CAUTION: Be sure to get individually foil wrapped urine ketone test strips! Test strips rapidly loose their accuracy once they are exposed to the air. By using individually foil wrapped strips, only the strip you are using is exposed to the atmosphere.
Blood Ketones: Example: Abbott Precision Xtra®
Quantitative ketone (beta-hydroxybutyrate) is measured. The normal level is less than 0.6 mmol/l. Check the manufacturer’s package insert for an explanation of results and more information. CardioChek, BioScanner 2000, and other blood ketone testing devices are also available.
- Advantages:
- Results are more accurate and reflect ketone levels at the time the test is done vs. lag time found with the urine testing
- Disadvantages:
- The blood ketone test strips are expensive
- May not be covered by medical insurance
- Test requires a meter
Self-assessment Quiz
This marks the end of the Monitoring Diabetes section. To find out how much you have learned from this section, take our self assessment quiz. The quiz is multiple choice. Please choose the single best answer to each question. At the end of the quiz, your score will display. If your score is over 70% correct, you are doing very well. If your score is less than 70%, you can return to this section and review the information.