Diabetes Insipidus in Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia

ABSTRACT

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) usually presents as a respiratory infection, and may progress to multiple organ failure and eventually death. In COVID-19 patients, kidney dysfunctions reported proteinuria, elevated markers of blood urea nitrogen, plasma creatinine, uric acids, and D-dimer. We present here the case of a 49-year-old male who was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with COVID-19 pneumonia and respiratory failure. Diabetes insipidus (DI) developed during intensive care follow-up without electrolyte imbalance or kidney failure. A contrast-enhanced brain and pituitary MRI was performed to identify the etiology of the central DI, but revealed no pathological findings. The drugs used to treat our patient had no polyuria side effects. No electrolyte imbalance was identified from a blood test of our patient, and there were no findings of other diseases in the differential diagnosis that could lead to nephrogenic DI. We present here a case of COVID-19 infection complicated by nephrogenic diabetes insipidus, given the lack of reports in literature indicating the occurrence of diabetes insipidus alongside COVID-19 infection.