Long-term effects of a urotherapy training program in children with functional urinary incontinence: A 2-year follow-up

Objective. To evaluate the long-term effectiveness of a urotherapy training program implemented at our institution. Day- and/or night-time wetting as a consequence of functional urinary incontinence is a common problem in childhood. A number of treatment methods are available, among them urotherapy. Material and methods. Forty-eight patients (age range 10–14 years) with urge incontinence or dysfunctional voiding were evaluated with a questionnaire 2 years after completion of a urotherapy training program. Results. Two years after completion of training, 86.7% of the inpatient and 93.8% of the outpatient groups with day-time wetting and 79.2% of the inpatient and 41.6% of the outpatient groups with night-time wetting were cured or had improved. Conclusions. Compared with the published data on the natural course of incontinence, the urotherapy program evaluated in this study resulted in higher success rates. Compared with 6-month follow-up, improvement rates proved to be stable, and cure rates (with the exception of patients with night-time wetting in the outpatient training group) even increased significantly during the 2-year follow-up.