PROGNOSIS IN MODERATE OR SEVERE DIABETIC ACIDOSIS:  Effectiveness of Various Measurements and a Derived Severity Score in Predicting the Outcome

CERTAIN measurements obtained on patients with diabetic acidosis on or shortly after admission to the hospital are known to have prognostic significance. In the past, emphasis was placed primarily on two of the measurements in determining both the existence of moderate or severe acidosis and the therapy to be given, viz., the blood sugar and carbon-dioxide-combining power. Today greater prognostic significance is attached to other criteria of severity, such as the age of the patient, the degree and duration of unconsciousness, cardiovascular and renal changes, and complicating conditions. All these important factors defining severity should of course be given careful consideration in deciding how vigorous therapy must be. No single factor is all-important, and a poor result generally follows a combination of untoward circumstances.

A quantitative evaluation of the relative prognostic significance of the important severity factors seems desirable, as does a means of combining the factors into a single