Dehydration can lead to ____________ blood osmolarity.

• A. decreased
• B. increased
• C. variable
• D. no change in

Answer: (B)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Understand the concept of dehydration: it means losing water from the body, which reduces the volume of water in the bloodstream.
2. Recall that blood osmolarity is a measure of the concentration of solutes (like salts and other particles) in the blood.
3. When water is lost due to dehydration, the amount of solutes remains roughly the same but the volume of water decreases, leading to a higher concentration of solutes.
4. Therefore, the blood osmolarity increases because osmolarity is calculated as the number of solute particles per liter of solution.
5. Conclude that dehydration leads to increased blood osmolarity because the blood becomes more concentrated with solutes as water is lost.