Micturitional Dryness and Attitude of Parents Towards Enuresis in Children Attending Outpatient unit of a Tertiary Hospital in Abeokuta; Southwest Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Background: There is significant variability of the age at which children achieve dryness. Objectives: We determine the age at achievement of micturational dryness and attitude of parents about enuresis among urban Nigerian children. Method: A total of 346 questionnaires were administered to parents of children between the ages of 12 - 180 months who came for routine paediatric care at the outpatient unit of Federal Medical Centre; Abeokuta. Results: At age 36 months; 86 (51.8) and 34 (20.5) out of 166 children had achieved dryness at daytime and night time respectively. Achievement of dryness was significantly related to low maternal education (p = 0.022) and low social class (p= 0.009). Twenty-four (26.7) children had nocturnal enuresis. Four (4.4) of these children also had diurnal enuresis. All the parents/guardians were aware about enuresis but only 9.8correctly identified it as a health problem. Even though none of the children with enuresis ever visited health facility for their problem; a statistically significant proportion of the parents desire to discuss with health practitioners (p = 0.015). Conclusions: The proportion of children achieving dryness by age 36 months is very small when compared with children from developed parts of the world. There is also a high prevalence of enuresis which are not reported. Therefore; health workers in the tropics should as a routine enquire about enuresis in their daily paediatric care particularly for those children from polygamous homes and high social class