THE FINANCIAL COST OF BEDWETTING IN CHILD REN

The financial cost of bedwetting management is often underestimated. A study including 48 children aged 6 to 16 years was carried out in the outpatient clinic in order to evaluate the cost of these disorders du ring a 4 month-period. The diagnosis was the following: nocturnal enur esis (n = 15), bladder instability (n = 22) and other voiding dysfunct ion (n = 11). Our results showed that these expenses were quite import ant. A relationship between the kind of voiding dysfunction and the su bsequent expenses was observed: the more complex was the disorder, the more expensive it was (average expenses = 1317 FF/year for nocturnal enuresis, 2506 FF/year for bladder instability and 3174 FF/year for ot her dysfunctions). Subsidiary expenses (transport, diapers and extrawa shing) constituted an important part of the whole expenses: 46% in noc turnal enuresis, 42% in bladder instability and 38% in other dysfuncti ons.