A UC Davis study published in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine suggests that high levels of ketones in the blood may cause an irregular heartbeat that can occur in children with diabetes. Cardiac arrhythmias in patients with diabetic ketoacidosis have been blamed on an imbalance of electrolytes. But investigators, led by emergency medicine pediatrician Nathan Kuppermann, found that study participants had few irregularities in their electrolyte balance to account for the abnormalities. This led the team to conclude that the ketosis was the primary cause of cardiac arrhythmias.