Skip to main content
PMC home page
Archives of Disease in Childhood logoLink to Archives of Disease in Childhood
. 1990 Oct;65(10):1158–1161. doi: 10.1136/adc.65.10.1158

Predicting treatment outcome in nocturnal enuresis.

J B Devlin 1, C O'Cathain 1
PMCID: PMC1792316  PMID: 2248510

Abstract

A presenting sample of 127 consecutive referrals to a community based enuresis clinic were evaluated after treatment with baseline behavioural recording and the enuresis alarm. Almost one in five became dry after baseline recording only while 81 of 96 (84%) enuretics who used the alarm achieved the initial dryness criterion. Successful outcome was associated with the absence of adverse environmental factors and psychiatric disorders in the child. A logistic regression procedure enabled a risk score to be created so that successful outcome could be predicted. Psychiatric disorder in the child, family stress, and the degree of concern shown by the child emerged as the most important prognostic factors in the treatment of enuresis. The favourable success rates with baseline recording and the enuresis alarm confirm the role of conditioning treatment at the forefront of management of enuresis and the risk score allows outcome to be predicted for the first time.

Full text

PDF
1158

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Butler R. J., Brewin C. R., Forsythe W. I. A comparison of two approaches to the treatment of nocturnal enuresis and the prediction of effectiveness using pre-treatment variables. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1988 Jul;29(4):501–509. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1988.tb00740.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cronin A. J., Khalil R., Little T. M. Poisoning with tricyclic antidepressants: an avoidable cause of childhood deaths. Br Med J. 1979 Mar 17;1(6165):722–722. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.6165.722. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Dische S., Yule W., Corbett J., Hand D. Childhood nocturnal enuresis: factors associated with outcome of treatment with an enuresis alarm. Dev Med Child Neurol. 1983 Feb;25(1):67–80. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.1983.tb13723.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Foxman B., Valdez R. B., Brook R. H. Childhood enuresis: prevalence, perceived impact, and prescribed treatments. Pediatrics. 1986 Apr;77(4):482–487. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Goel K. M., Thomson R. B., Gibb E. M., McAinsh T. F. Evaluation of nine different types of enuresis alarms. Arch Dis Child. 1984 Aug;59(8):748–752. doi: 10.1136/adc.59.8.748. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Kolvin I., Taunch J., Currah J., Garside R. F., Nolan J., Shaw W. B. Enuresis: a descriptive analysis and a controlled trial. Dev Med Child Neurol. 1972 Dec;14(6):715–726. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.1972.tb03314.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Meadow R. How to use buzzer alarms to cure bed-wetting. Br Med J. 1977 Oct 22;2(6094):1073–1075. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.6094.1073. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Netley C., Khanna F., McKendry J. B., Lovering J. S. Effects of different methods of treatment of primary enuresis on psychologic functioning in children. Can Med Assoc J. 1984 Sep 15;131(6):577–579. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Polak H. E. More about enuresis. Public Health. 1987 May;101(3):185–190. doi: 10.1016/s0033-3506(87)80066-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Schmitt B. D. Nocturnal enuresis: an update on treatment. Pediatr Clin North Am. 1982 Feb;29(1):21–36. doi: 10.1016/s0031-3955(16)34105-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Shaffer D., Gardner A., Hedge B. Behavior and bladder disturbance of enuretic children: a rational classification of a common disorder. Dev Med Child Neurol. 1984 Dec;26(6):781–792. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.1984.tb08172.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Stewart M. A. Treatment of bedwetting. JAMA. 1975 Apr 21;232(3):281–283. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Wagner W., Johnson S. B., Walker D., Carter R., Wittner J. A controlled comparison of two treatments for nocturnal enuresis. J Pediatr. 1982 Aug;101(2):302–307. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(82)80146-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Wille S. Comparison of desmopressin and enuresis alarm for nocturnal enuresis. Arch Dis Child. 1986 Jan;61(1):30–33. doi: 10.1136/adc.61.1.30. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Archives of Disease in Childhood are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES