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Changing the name of diabetes insipidus: a position statement of The Working Group for Renaming Diabetes Insipidus.

null nullHiroshi ArimaTimothy CheethamMirjam Christ-CrainDeborah CooperMark GurnellJuliana B DrummondMiles LevyAnn I McCormackJoseph VerbalisJohn Newell-PriceJohn A H Wass
Published in: European journal of endocrinology (2022)
'What's in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet.' (Juliet, from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare). Shakespeare's implication is that a name is nothing but a word and it therefore represents a convention with no intrinsic meaning. Whilst this may be relevant to romantic literature, disease names do have real meanings, and consequences, in medicine. Hence, there must be a very good rationale for changing the name of a disease that has a centuries-old historical context. A working group of representatives from national and international endocrinology, nephrology and pediatric societies now proposes changing the name of 'diabetes insipidus' to 'arginine vasopressin deficiency (AVP-D)' for central etiologies and 'arginine vasopressin resistance (AVP-R)' for nephrogenic etiologies. This editorial provides both the historical context and the rationale for this proposed name change.
Keyphrases
  • type diabetes
  • cardiovascular disease
  • glycemic control
  • nitric oxide
  • systematic review
  • quality improvement
  • metabolic syndrome
  • adipose tissue