DefinePK

Abstract

Introduction


Enuresis is defined as voiding during sleep. If this is during night it is called Nocturnal Enuresis. A traditional classification separated those of a primary nature "having never experienced a lengthy spell of dry nights" from those of secondary nature "who had a history of being dry for at least 6 months."1 A further categorization has recently emerged between Monosymptomatic Enuresis and non-monosymptomatic enuresis based, respectively in the absence or presence of bladder dysfunctions.1 The prevalence and frequency of Primary Nocturnal Eneuresis (PNE) reported world-wide vary depending on the geographical area involved, the composition of population studied and on the definition used for enuresis.2,3 The prevalence of enuresis has been reported to be 7-14% in Italy, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Turkey.3-6 To date, large population-based studies from different parts of the world have helped to increase our understanding of enuresis and have made us aware of the many social, psychological and economic repercussions of this disorder on children and their immediate surroundings. These studies have also shown that childhood enuresis embodies a large heterogeneous group of incontinent children and varies considerably in etiology, severity and accompanying symptomatology. Surprisingly, there is no extensive epidemiological data on the prevalence of enuresis in Pakistani children. Factors associated with the severity of PNE in our population have never been addressed either.
This study was conducted to determine the relative frequency of bed wetting among primary school going children in Karachi and to compare this with the frequency of bed wetting in western countries and in other Asian countries. The attitude of children and their parents towards this problem and attempts at finding remedies to solve the problem were also noted.