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– Copeptin serves as a stable surrogate marker for arginine vasopressin (AVP) secretion, enabling reliable assessment of water homeostasis regulation.
– Healthy older adults have a preserved copeptin response to stimulation with hypertonic saline but show reduced suppression of copeptin after water loading.
– The diminished ability to suppress copeptin in older adults may contribute to the higher incidence of hyponatremia in the elderly population.
– These findings underscore the need to tailor hydration guidelines considering altered copeptin kinetics in aging.
