Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is most commonly associated with which type of diabetes?

• A. Type 2 diabetes
• B. Hypoglycemia
• C. Type 1 diabetes
• D. Aortic dissection

Answer: (C)

DKA happens when there isn’t enough insulin to let glucose enter cells, so the body switches to fat breakdown and produces ketones, leading to high glucose, dehydration, and metabolic acidosis. This pattern occurs most often in type 1 diabetes because these patients typically have little or no endogenous insulin due to autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta cells. In type 2 diabetes, there can be insulin deficiency too, but ketone production is less common unless there’s severe stress or illness. The other options don’t fit because hypoglycemia is low blood sugar, not a ketone-driven crisis, and aortic dissection is a vascular emergency unrelated to diabetic metabolic disturbances.