[Etiology of central diabetes insipidus in children].

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this report were to document the etiology of central diabetes insipidus (CDI) in children under fourteen years of age and to describe the time of onset of CDI after its cause.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A descriptive-retrospective study using the records of 33 children diagnosed of CDI between January 1988 and December 1997 was performed.

RESULTS

Brain death produced CDI in seventeen patients, intracranial tumors in five (after excision of the tumor) and seven had other causes. No etiology was detected in four. Time interval from the cause, when known, to the onset of CDI was always less than seven days.

CONCLUSIONS

The most frequent etiology of CDI in children was brain death (51%). In all of our patients, the time of onset of CDI was less than one week.