title: Urine flow curve shapes in adults with earlier vesicoureteral reflux.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Voiding problems related to childhood vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) in a cohort of 120 patients (109 females, 11 males) were studied at early middle age (range, 33-50 yr). Forty-four patients had been operated on. The study included an interview by means of a symptom questionnaire, a urine flow measurement, a residual urine measurement, and a urine sample.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The flow curve shape was abnormal in 40% (tower-shaped in 7%, weak in 18%, interrupted in 8%, and big bladder in 8% of patients). Forty-five percent of operated patients and 70% of nonoperated patients had a normal flow curve shape. Almost half of the operated patients (45%) had either an interrupted or a weak flow. Figures for stress incontinence and urgency incontinence among the female patients were twice those in the controls, 35% versus 16% (p=0.05) and 20% versus 11%, respectively. Urinary tract infections (UTIs) were diagnosed in 76% of the adult female VUR patients and in 57% of their controls (p=0.041). Twenty-five percent of the female VUR patients (none of the controls) reported suffering from UTI more often than once a year.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Adult patients with childhood VUR have abnormal urine flow curve shapes and UTIs significantly more often than controls (p=0.00005 and p=0.04, respectively). Patients who were operated on for VUR especially seemed to have an interrupted or weak flow curve shape. A high percentage of these patients also suffered from urgency and stress incontinence and annual UTIs.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Research Centre, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland. hanna.roihuvuo@suomi24.fi
authors.forename: Hanna-Mari
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Roihuvuo-Leskinen
authors.forename: Juha E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Koskimäki
authors.forename: Teuvo L J
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Tammela
authors.forename: Tuija T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Lahdes-Vasama
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003950:Diagnostic Techniques, Urological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014555:Urination Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014563:Urodynamics; D014718:Vesico-Ureteral Reflux / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery