PAD WEIGHING TESTS - THE BEST WAY TO QUANTIFY URINE LOSS IN PATIENTS WITH INCONTINENCE

This article reviews the literature on pad weighing tests composed to measure urinary incontinence. The tests can be divided into short-term tests (one to two hours) performed in a clinic or laboratory, or long -term tests (12 to 48 hours) performed by the patient at home. The sho rt-term tests, apart from practical disadvantages, hale low negative p redictive value and require retrograde filling of the bladder to reach acceptable reproducibility. The long-term tests have practical advant ages, better sensitivity and acceptable reproducibility. Pad weighing tests have no value for the purpose of differential diagnosis. The val idity of the long-term test as a measure of the symptom of urinary inc ontinence is obvious whereas it is unclear what the short-term test me asures.