Relationship between the concentration of H+-ions and the efficiency of insulin in the treatment of diabetic ketoacidosis.

The efficiency of insulin (decrease of the blood glucose per unit of insulin administered) was assessed in 610 cases of diabetic ketoacidosis (316 females, 274 males, aged 3 to 72 years) in terms of the degree of plasma acidemia. The 610 cases were grouped into 4 ketoacidosis stages, defined according to pH values as incipient, pH > 7.35 (77 cases); moderate, pH 7.31-7.35 (163 cases); advanced, 7.21-7.30 (160 cases); severe, pH < 7.20 (210 cases). The mean [H+]-ion concentration recorded on admission in the 4 stages of ketoacidosis was 41 nEq/1, 46 nEq/1, 53 nEq/1, and 91 nEq/1, respectively. The efficiency of insulin for the first 2 hours of treatment (interval during which acidemia was only partly corrected) was comparable in the four ketoacidosis stages, i.e. 31.1 mg/l, 32.9 mg/l, 29.5 mg/l and, respectively 28.9 mg/l per unit of insulin injected as a bolus. The somewhat lower efficiency of insulin in the advanced and severe cases of ketoacidosis appears to be due to vascular collapse encountered in 38 cases (6 advanced ketoacidosis and 32 severe ketoacidosis), since in these patients the fall in blood glucose per unit insulin was only 15.8 mg/l.