Changing the name of diabetes insipidus: a position statement of The Working Group for Renaming Diabetes Insipidus
The Working Group for Renaming Diabetes Insipidus, Hiroshi Arima, Timothy Cheetham, Mirjam Christ‐Crain, Deborah Cooper, Mark Gurnell, Juliana Drummond, Miles Levy, Ann McCormack, Joseph G. Verbalis, John Newell‐Price, John Wass
Abstract
"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 rational for changing the name of a disease that has a centuries-old historical context. A working group of representatives from national and international endocrinology and pediatric endocrine 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 rational for this proposed name change.