Five families were studied in which cranial diabetes insipidus occurred. In the pedigrees presented, the disease clearly followed an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance. Linkage analysis was performed in one large family by calculating lod scores for linkage between loci for cranial diabetes insipidus and 18 polymorphic markers and chromosome heteromorphisms. No significant genetic linkage was found and only one of the polymorphic markers gave a positive hint of linkage. A water deprivation test was performed in nine patients from three of the families and in healthy control subjects. The plasma concentration of arginine vasopressin was very low or undetectable in the patients, and unlike the control subjects did not increase significantly during water deprivation. Arginine vasopressin and serum osmolality (Sosm) were significantly positively correlated in the controls, but not in the patients. The results indicated that an arginine vasopressin-level lower than 2 pg/ml strongly suggests a diagnosis of cranial diabetes insipidus if at the same time Sosm is higher than 295 mosmol/kg. Studies with different intranasal dosages of 1-deamino-D-arginine-vasopressin (DDAVP) given once or twice a day showed that 20 micrograms effectively reduced urinary output and that administration once a day could be sufficient.

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