Treatment response of an outpatient training for children with enuresis in a tertiary health care setting

Purpose To evaluate the effectiveness of the outpatient's training for children with enuresis, according to the new definitions of the International Children's Continence Society (ICCS, 2006). Material and Methods Children age ≥6 years of age, motivated for training, who completed the 4 months outpatient training program given by two nurse practitioners. Training consisted of one-hour visit in which an enuresis-anamnesis was taken, causes were explained and therapeutic tips & tricks were discussed. All children received a booklet about enuresis and were trained with an alarm and/or in combination with pharmacological therapy. Follow up was provided by telephone. At baseline, 4-, 10- and 16 months details were obtained of number of wet nights in previous 28 days and use of pharmacological therapy. Success rate of the training was determined by using the ICCS definitions of treatment outcome. Results A retrospective study was performed. 66 children with enuresis were included (48 boys, 18 girls). Mean age: 10,7(± 2.7) year. Parents tried several therapeutic treatments in 65/66 children. Non-monosymptomatic enuresis was experienced in 91% (N=60) of the children. Results at 4 months: 46% full-, 15% good-, 21% partial response (N=66). At 10 months 55% full-, 4% good-, 29% partial response (N=49). At 16 months 53% full,- 6% good-, 25% partial response (N=34). Overall use of pharmacological therapy showed a decline in time. Conclusions With the new definitions of treatment outcome (ICCS, 2006), outpatient training for enuresis shows good overall treatment response. Results are now comparable to other studies or treatments in the future.