Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Symptom Scales (SS) are questionnaires for evaluating and following up of special illnesses. SS used for the diagnosis and follow-up of Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunction (LUTD) in children is called LUTD Symptom Scale (LUTDSS). AIM: Aim of the present study was to identify the questions which are more important for the diagnosis of LUTD in children and create a simpler SS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From January 2005 to March 2015, 631 children between the age 5 and 15 were enrolled in this study. Eleven children with active urinary tract infections were excluded from the study. Two hundred sixty three children from the nursery and secondary school saying that they have no urinary complaints and having LUTDSS <9 were designed as control group. Three hundred fifty seven children with LUTDSS score ≥9 were thought as having LUTD and diagnoses were verified with 3-day bladder diaries and 2-time Uroflow-EMG-PVR tests. The answered questions of LUTDSS in patient and control group were compared. RESULTS: Children with daytime incontinence (first question of questionnaire) were 47.7 (4.8-510) times (p=0.01), children with enuresis (third question) were 59.53 (6.2-961) times (p=0.001), children with pause while urinating (eighth question) were 28.7 (4.4-2090) times (p=0.001), children with urgency (tenth question) were 54.7 (29.3-604) times (p=0.039) more likely to have LUTD than the children not having these complaints. The area under ROC curve created by using 1,3,8, and 10 questions was calculated 86.4%. CONCLUSION: The diagnosis and control of LUTD can be made by using only 1., 3., 8. and 10. questions, and these 4 questions could form simpler SS for LUTD in children.