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October 27, 1999

Diagnosis and Symptoms

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Question from New York, New York, USA:

My son, age 13, has just had a physical at our doctor’s office and a trace of ketones was found in his urine sample. What does this mean?

Answer:

From: DTeam Staff

If your son is not a diabetic and had trace ketones in his urine, I wouldn’t worry. Most of the time this can be due to being a little dehydrated and corrects with simply drinking more water. If he is a diabetic, this likely is an early warning that he could get sick from his diabetes with DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis).

The presence of ketones in the urine of a child that does not have diabetes does not place that child at risk of diabetes unless there is sugar in the urine also.

MSB