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Calculator · Which hyperglycaemic emergency is this
DKA or HHS?
The two are treated differently and the distinction is made on ketones and pH, not on the glucose. A mixed picture is common and is treated as DKA — because the acidosis is what will kill first.
Before you use it
This reads the numbers you give it and nothing else. Euglycaemic DKA is real — SGLT2 inhibitors, pregnancy, starvation and alcohol can all produce ketoacidosis with a glucose under 11, and this tool will not flag it. A patient who looks unwell with ketones and an acidosis has DKA regardless of what the glucose says.
Source: JBDS-IP: DKA (2023) and HHS (2022) in adults
Checked, and shown
Every threshold on this page was checked against its primary source by a practising doctor. Here is what that involved, and what it found.