Draft:Acidemia

Acidemia is a term used for the state of blood or serum with a pH below normal. pH is frequently given as a range of 7.35 to 7.45 indicating that there is some variation around the mean normal value of 7.4. Conversely, alkalemia is a state of blood pH above normal. The use of acidosis or alkalosis as a reference to blood pH instead of acidemia or alkalemia is used extensively but not properly. This is long standing tradition but confusion will sometimes arise when this is done. To address this problem, acidemia as a concept as distinguished from acidosis began appearing in the medical literature in the late 1990s. In some circumstances it is necessary to use unambiguous terminology to communicate the situation correctly. To avoid confusion, the term acidosis should not be used without a modifier, either metabolic or respiratory. Similarly alkalosis is either metabolic or respiratory. Nevertheless it in very common use to use the term acidosis or alkalosis by itself and expect that the listener will understand from the context what is meant.

The terms acidic and basic are also best avoided when discussing acid base physiology. Acidic is a general chemistry term that mean a pH below 7.0. The suffix -emia comes from the Greek meaning blood. Acidemia specifically refers to blood, or sometimes body fluids. With blood the reference for pH is 7.4, not 7.0. The is the normal value at sea level. Similarly, basic is a general chemistry term.