Glycerol, mannitol, and occasionally urea can cause osmotic diuresis resulting in hypernatremia. The most common cause of hypernatremia due to osmotic diuresis is hyperglycemia in patients with diabetes. Early symptoms are related to hyperglycemia and include polydipsia... read more .

Why does diabetes cause hypernatremia?

Hypernatremia is most often due to unreplaced water that is lost from the gastrointestinal tract (vomiting or osmotic diarrhea), skin (sweat), or the urine (diabetes insipidus or an osmotic diuresis due to glycosuria in uncontrolled diabetes mellitus or increased urea excretion resulting from catabolism or recovery ...

How does hyperglycemia affect sodium levels?

The effect of hyperglycemia is well known for its lowering of serum sodium levels. The most commonly used correction factor is a 1.6 mEq per L (1.6 mmol per L) decrease in serum sodium for every 100 mg per dL (5.6 mmol per L) increase in glucose concentration.