REPLY TO THE AUTHORS: Re: One-day voiding diary in the evaluation of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in children

To the editor,

We are thankful for the comments and agree with the delicate considerations (¹).

Repeated measures of clinical parameters increase accuracy, identify possible variations, and minimize measurement bias. Our study demonstrates, despite possible biases, that there is a good correlation between the two formats (²).

The 3-day voiding diary is the “Gold standard” in assessing LUTS in children. Difficulties in obtaining adequate assessments, especially in more complex cases and families with low literacy, have motivated other authors and our group to search for simplified alternatives.

Our proposal would minimize patient/caregiver burden and increase the rate of complete responses.

Other authors have studied these aspects previously. Elmer et al. evaluated incontinent women and showed promising results with this approach (³). In the same direction, Veiga et al. demonstrated a good correlation between the two formats and considered that a 2-day bladder diary was sufficient to evaluate bladder capacity and fluid intake (⁴).

Our findings reinforce this idea that a simplified version could be an attractive alternative.

Furthermore, we plan to evaluate asymptomatic and non-neurotypical children. The difficulties in investigating asymptomatic children (ethical aspects and little cooperation from parents) are important limiting factors.

Further studies are needed to validate the one-day voiding diary in evaluating LUTS and clarify the accurate correlation between objectives bladder parameters (Maximum Voided Volume) and estimated bladder capacity (EBC) in the asymptomatic and children with LUTS.

The authors.

REFERENCES

• ¹
  Ram P. Re: One-day voiding diary in the evaluation of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in children. Int Braz J Urol. 2023;49:395-6.
• ²
  Franck HHM, Guedes ACS, Alvim YFS, de Andrade TMS, Oliveira LF, da Silva LI, et al. One-day voiding diary in the evaluation of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in children. Int Braz J Urol. 2023;49:89-96.
• ³
  Elmer C, Murphy A, Elliott JO, Book NM. Twenty-Four-Hour Voiding Diaries Versus 3-Day Voiding Diaries: A Clinical Comparison. Female Pelvic Med Reconstr Surg. 2017;23:429-32.
• ⁴
  Lopes I, Veiga ML, Braga AA, Brasil CA, Hoffmann A, Barroso U Jr. A two-day bladder diary for children: Is it enough? J Pediatr Urol. 2015;11:348.e1-4.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  05 June 2023
• Date of issue
  May-Jun 2023

History

• Received
  04 Mar 2023
• Accepted
  08 Mar 2023
• Published
  05 Apr 2023