Diabetes insipidus: main aspects and comparative analysis with diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a disease characterized by the excess of sugar in the blood and urine. The two most common types of diabetes are insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and insulin-resistant diabetes mellitus, both presenting glycemic regulation-damage caused by insulin. Nevertheless, there is another type of diabetes that is less known but not less important, the diabetes insipidus, which is characterized by a problem with the synthesis, secretion or action of the ADH (anti-diuretic hormone) that can result in polyuric syndromes with increased excretion of hypotonic urine. Physiologically, variations in the osmotic pressure activate osmoceptors that stimulate the ADH secretion, increasing water reabsorption in the kidney collection tubes. This article intends to revise a wide-ranging study on diabetes insipidus, aiming at a comparative analysis of the incidence, diagnosis, causes, types, treatment and consequences between diabetes insidipus and diabetes mellitus. Diabetes mellitus and insipidus are two different pathologies with a single similarity that is the diabetes itself, that is, the polyuria established. The knowledge of the significant differences between the pathologies studied is important once diabetes insipidus is less known, but can lead to serious complications if not properly treated.