Long-term follow-up of incontinence and urge complaints after intensive urotherapy in childhood (75 patients followed up for 16.2-21.8 years).
OBJECTIVE
To reassess the incontinence and urge complaints in adults who had undergone inpatient urotherapy during childhood and compare the results with the short-term outcomes.


METHODS
From 1987 to 1990, 95 children (13 boys and 82 girls; age 6-17 years) underwent hospitalized urotherapy to treat functional lower urinary tract symptoms. This group was traced and a questionnaire was administered by telephone. The long-term data on incontinence and urge complaints were compared with the results at 6 months after training.


RESULTS
Of the 95 patients, 92 were traced, and a cohort of 75 could be analyzed. At long-term follow-up (mean 17.9 years), of the 75 patients, 63 (84%) had a good, 8 (11%) a moderate, and 4 (5%) a poor outcome. At short-term follow-up, 56 of the current 75 patients had had a good outcome, and at long-term follow-up, 47 of these 56 patients still had a good score. However, during the intervening period, 3 of these 56 patients developed incontinence recurrence and scored a poor result, and 6 others scored a moderate result. Originally, after 6 months of follow-up, 7 patients had had a moderate outcome; 5 of these had improved to good, 1 still scored moderate, and 1 had deteriorated over time to poor. Twelve patients had originally had a poor outcome at short-term follow-up. Of these, 11 had spontaneously improved to good and 1 to moderate.


CONCLUSIONS
If the original outcomes of pediatric intensive inpatient urotherapy are good, they tend to remain so over time in most patients.
Department of Pediatric Psychology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. m.vijverberg@umcutrecht.nl
Marianne A W
MA
Vijverberg
Eva
E
Stortelder
Laetitia M O
LM
de Kort
Esther T
ET
Kok
Tom P V M
TP
de Jong
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D001676:Biofeedback, Psychology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D059411:Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D012008:Recurrence; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000628:therapy