ABNORMALITIES in the production of ketone bodies have been studied in patients with mental disease for over 60 years. Ketonuria has been found by a number of investigators1; more important are observations showing that the rate of formation of ketone bodies is abnormally high in schizophrenia.1d,f The blood ketone-body concentration has not been investigated so thoroughly. Freudenberg and Fine2 found that blood ketones were increased in two of five schizophrenic patients studied; Greving3 reported abnormal increases during exercise. In a more recent study, Hinkle and associates4 reported increases in blood ketones in normal and diabetic subjects after mental stress, while Sargent and Consolazio5 observed ketonuria in normal subjects in conditions of stress.
In view of the paucity of available data, it was decided to study the blood ketone-body concentration in a group of patients in a mental hospital.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Measurements were made