Long-term follow-up of enuretic alarm treatment in enuresis nocturna

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the long-term success of the enuretic alarm device in patients with monosymptomatic primary nocturnal enuresis.

Material and methods: Sixty-two patients who had significant monosymptomatic primary nocturnal enuresis were included. They used an enuretic alarm for 3 months. At the end of the treatment, 15 of the patients did not have benefit from the enuretic alarm. Overall, 47 patients benefited from the enuretic alarm. The long-term follow-up was conducted prospectively.

Results: The mean age was 9.3 (range 5-16) years and mean follow-up time was 19.2 (range 12-30) months. In the follow-up period, relapse was observed in 46.8% (n = 22/47) of these patients. Twenty-two patients reused the enuretic alarm device for 3 months after relapse occurrence and 13 patients (59%) recovered. Although re-relapse was observed in seven of them in the 6 months, six patients had a full response. In total, 65.9% of the patients (n = 31/47) maintained a full response after enuretic alarm treatment in the long-term follow-up. Thirty-one of the 62 patients underwent combination treatment (enuretic alarm plus medical therapy) for unsuccessful enuretic alarm treatment. The overall full response rate for combination treatment was 16.1%.

Conclusion: In the long-term follow-up, the enuretic alarm device provided an acceptable full response rate in patients with primary nocturnal enuresis.