Evaluation of Health-Related Quality of Life and Its Influencing Factors in Pediatric Patients with Voiding Dysfunction

Abstract

Objective: Health-related quality of life and its influencing factors in pediatric patients with voiding dysfunction and their parents was 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 group 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 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 parents between groups with urinary incontinence (65.5±16 and 58.4±13.5, respectively), but strong positive correlation was obtained (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 years to 7 years old (p<0.05). The mean PedsQL score for the children aged from 13 years to 18 years was not different from the other age groups. Conclusions: The early diagnosis and treatment of patients aged from 8 years to 12 years who had the lowest PedsQL score is important. Additionally, the success in improvement of the quality of life of children with voiding dysfunction require cooperation with parents.