Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms

Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) refer to a set of conditions involving the abnormal filling and emptying of the bladder, presenting as daytime and nighttime accidents, sudden uncontrollable urge to urinate or increased frequency of peeing without any associated infection. It is a common problem that causes disruptions in school and home settings for many children.

Treatment of LUTS is termed as urotherapy. It is non-invasive and involves education on healthy lower urinary tract (LUT) function with individually tailored recommendations on behavioral and lifestyle modifications. Most children get better with just urotherapy and rarely require any further investigations or medications.

Goal of the study

We want to know if urotherapy can be used as a preventive strategy and thus reduce the occurrence of LUTS. For this, we need to understand the baseline knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of caregivers regarding bladder and bowel habits of children.

We will conduct interviews and gain insight into the problem that parents face during these early years in developing good bladder habits among children. Participation in this study will not affect the care your child receives and will not require them to have any additional clinic visits to what they would need for their standard care.

Who can join?

• Parents or caregivers directly involved in caring for a child (or children) who is 4 to 8 years old or have been involved in the last 3 years. Child may or may not have any bladder issues currently or in the past.

Study procedure

• Participation in the study will not affect the care your child receives.
• One screening phone call.
• 60-minute one-on-one interview over zoom. No in-person contact.
• No extra procedures or clinic visits needed.

If you would like more information on this clinical trial or are interested in joining, please email hhbladderstudy@stanford.edu.