Development of the Scoring System About Functional Voiding Dysfunction in Pediatric Population

Abstract

Purpose There have not been globally accepted and validated methods of quantitative evaluation of functional voiding dysfunction in children. We developed a validated questionnaire in Korean for the scoring system about functional voiding dysfunction. Material and Methods A questionnaire of 14-items was developed using a combination of literature review; and expert opinions. Twenty-nine children who were clinically diagnosed with functional voiding dysfunction and 21 children who visited Pediatric clinic for general health examination without specific voiding symptom were included. The control group was matched with age and sex of the patients group. Any children with physical and neurological abnormalities were excluded. The same questionnaire was completed 1 week later to assess the test-retest reliability. Results Mean age of the participants was 7.6 years old(7.6±2.4 vs 7.6±3.6, p=0.538). A total 10 items were satisfied with discriminative validity of questionnaire item between the patients and controls excluding 4 items of frequency, pain, nocturnal frequency, and bowel habits. Internal consistency of questionnaire items was concluded that the value of Cronbach's alpha was 0.818. All items showed good stability by assessment test-retest reliability except one item of urinary incontinence which showed marginal stability. According to inter-item correlation analysis, most items were significantly correlated with other items. A ROC curve was generated to determine the optimal cutoff score to diagnose functional voiding problem. A total score of 7 was associated with 93% sensitivity and 95% specificity. Conclusions This newly developed scoring system was a reliable and valid tool for diagnosing functional voiding dysfunction in children.