A patient with acute respiratory acidosis would be expected to have a base excess in the range of which of the following?

To get this one right, you simply just had to know the normal range for Base Excess—which of course, is +/- 2 mEq/L.

Base Excess simply refers to the excess amount of base that’s present in the blood.

The question tells us that the patient has acute or uncompensated respiratory acidosis, and in this case, the base excess should always fall within the normal range.

In another scenario, if there was renal compensation present, like you would see in a patient with chronic COPD, the Base Excess would be elevated above the normal range due to the increased levels of Bicarb. Remember, when the PaCO2 levels are chronically increased, the Bicarb levels will increase as well in order to compensate.

But for this patient, there is an acute condition so we know that the correct answer has to be C.

The correct answer is: C. +/- 2 mEq/L