The Pyridium pad test for diagnosing urinary incontinence. A comparative study of asymptomatic and incontinent women.
Eighteen women with urodynamically proven genuine stress incontinence awaiting surgery and 23 normal, asymptomatic, continent female volunteers took part in a study to compare the accuracy of a qualitative pad test with a quantitative pad-weighing test in detecting urine loss. Each woman took 600 mg of phenazopyridine hydrochloride (Pyridium, Parke-Davis) in three equally divided doses over 18-24 hours and then underwent a standardized, one-hour pad test as described by the International Continence Society. The Pyridium pad test was regarded as positive if there was any orange staining on the pad. The quantitative pad-weighing test was considered positive if there was a weight gain of 1.0 g or more at the end of the one-hour test period. All 18 patients with genuine stress incontinence had positive Pyridium pad tests, and all had pad weight gains of greater than or equal to 1.0 g (mean, 16.5). The maximum pad weight gain in the asymptomatic, continent volunteers was 0.7 g (mean, 0.1), and none was aware of any urinary leakage during the test; however, 12 (52%) had positive Pyridium pad tests. The Pyridium pad test appears 100% sensitive in detecting urine loss in symptomatic women with genuine stress incontinence, but it has a high false-positive rate in healthy, asymptomatic, continent women. If pad-weighing tests are done, the addition of Pyridium generally will not be useful, and if Pyridium is used by itself, the results may be misleading.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710.
L L
LL
Wall
K
K
Wang
I
I
Robson
S L
SL
Stanton
D000631:Aminopyridines; D001458:Bandages / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010621:Phenazopyridine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014550:Urinary Incontinence, Stress / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D014563:Urodynamics
D000631:Aminopyridines; D010621:Phenazopyridine