Copeptin Kinetics and Its Relationship to Osmolality During Rehydration for Diabetic Ketoacidosis in Children

Copeptin is a surrogate marker for arginine vasopressin (AVP) release in response to hyperosmolal stimuli such as diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).

The objective of this work is to characterize kinetics of copeptin and osmolality, and their dynamic relationship during rehydration and insulin therapy in children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and DKA.

A prospective, observational, multicenter study was conducted.

Children with T1D admitted for DKA underwent serial serum copeptin and osmolality measurements from start of rehydration at 14 time points during 72 hours.

Measurements included temporal course of copeptin and osmolality (kinetics), relationship between both (dynamics), and association between-subject variability (BSV) (coefficient of variation, CV%).

Twenty-eight children (20 newly diagnosed T1D) aged 1 to 16 years were included. Copeptin decreased from 95 pmol/L (95% CI, 55-136 pmol/L) (CV%, 158%) to 9.7 pmol/L (95% CI, 8.1-11.4 pmol/L) (CV%, 31%) with a 50% recovery time (t1/2) of 7.1 hours (range, 5.1-11.5 hours) (114%). Serum osmolality decreased from 321 mOsm/kg (range, 315-327 mOsm/kg) (4%) to 294 mOsm/kg (range, 292-296 mOsm/kg) (1%) with a t1/2 of 4.3 hours (range, 3.0-5.6 hours) (64%). Copeptin levels doubled with each osmolality increase by 15 mOsm/kg (range, 10-21 mOsm/kg) (59%), from 9.8 pmol/L (range, 7.3-12.3 pmol/L) (48%) to 280 mOsm/kg. Copeptin kinetics differed between newly diagnosed and known T1D patients (P = .001), and less between mild vs moderate-severe DKA (P = .04).

First, this study characterized for the first time copeptin kinetics and dynamics in the high hyperosmolar range in children with DKA. Second, it revealed significant differences in copeptin kinetics between newly diagnosed and known T1D patients that may be explained by changes at the osmoreceptor and renal AVP receptor level due to longstanding osmotic diuresis and DKA.