Objective:

Health-related quality of life and its influencing factors in pediatric patients with voiding dysfunction and their families were assessed.

Method:

The patients who were admitted with urinary incontinence for at least 6 months to the clinics of pediatrics and pediatric nephrology were enrolled in the study. The patients were divided into three groups as daytime urinary incontinence (DUI), enuresis and both DUI and enuresis. The Pediatric Quality of Life InventoryTM (PedsQLTM) was administered to patients and mothers.

Results:

A total of 100 patients with voiding dysfunction admitted with urinary incontinence aged from 5 years to 18 years (mean age: 8.8±2.6) were included in the study. The mean dysfunctional voiding symptom score was 15.5±6.6 in all groups and significantly higher in the group who experienced both DUI and NE (p<0.001). No significant difference was observed in terms of mean PedsQL scores of the children and their mothers between groups with urinary incontinence (65.5±16 and 58.4±13.5, respectively), but a strong positive correlation was detected between them (p<0.001). The mean PedsQL score for the children aged from 8 years to 12 years was significantly lower than the scores for the children aged from 5 to 7 years (p<0.05). The mean PedsQL score for the children aged between 13, and 18 years was not different from the other age groups.

Conclusion:

The early diagnosis and treatment of patients aged from 8 to 12 years who had the lowest PedsQL score is important. Additionally, the success in the improvement of the quality of life of children with voiding dysfunction requires cooperation with parents.

Keywords: Enuresis; incontinence, quality of life, voiding dysfunction