WHAT IS AN ACCEPTABLE TREATMENT OUTCOME

Nocturnal enuresis is a multifactorial condition and, as such, is acce ssible to a variety of treatment modalities. In order to evaluate and compare the efficacies of different treatments in patients with specif ic pathophysiologies, studies should describe fully the patient popula tion under investigation. In addition, many of the studies conducted t o date have applied different outcome measures, making comparisons dif ficult. Therefore, it is necessary to define standard outcome measures that should be used universally. These may relate to the effect of th e treatment on the number of wet nights per week, the effect on the fa mily economy of a reduction in the number of episodes of enuresis and the effect on the child's self esteem and/or quality of life.