Does one have ketones in the blood and urine at diagnosis more often with a LADA diagonsis?
Ketones are primarily a T1 (of which LADA is included) issue. There are some rarer forms of T2 that are ketosis prone, but not many.
If you are following a low carb diet and/or following a calorie restricted diet, you may register trace/marginal levels of ketones. These are not of concern and simply reflect that your body is burning fat. If you have a high blood sugar and register ketones, then you need to be concerned as that is an indication that you may be getting DKA. I don’t believe that a LADA diagnosis itself places you at an greater risk for DKA, if anything having LADA may mean that you have residual insulin production which protects you against DKA. Again as Shannon notes, diabetes comes in all kinds of flavors and there are some forms that can get ketosis really easy.
Get yourself some ketostix, they are like $10 for a canister.
Its never been any big factor at all for me and I have had LADA for 43 years. If I run a high, I pull it down pronto. Once I had a silly M.D. who had me on an extremely low carb diet to the point I got K and felt terrible but that was the end of it. So I don’t think its a generalized factor for all LADAs.