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. Conclusion If the original outcomes of pediatric intensive inpatient urotherapy are good, they tend to remain so over time in most patients.