Korean J Urol.  2004 Mar;45(3):209-214.

Voiding Pattern in Healthy Korean Children Below 3 Years Old

• Lee KW
• Kim JH
• Kim YJ
• Lee CH
• Jeon YS
• Lee NK

Abstract

PURPOSE: There is little known about the voiding patterns and development of bladder control in healthy Korean children. To obtain a more comprehensive picture of voiding patterns in healthy children during the first 3 years of life children were examined using 4-hour voiding observations.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The 4-hour voiding was observed in 37 healthy children(male:female ratio; 21:16, with a mean age of 18.4 month). The children were divided into 9 groups depending on their 4 month intervals. Observation began between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m., and the diapers checked every 10 minutes. Voiding patterns, including the number of voidings, voided volume, bladder capacity and residual urine were determined for 4 hours. The urine volume was measured by weighing the diaper, and post-void residual urine using a portable ultrasound device(BladderScanTM BVI 3000, Diagnostic Ultrasound, USA). The bladder capacity was defined as the highest voided volume plus the residual urine for 1 occasion during the 4-hour observation.
RESULTS
During the 4-hour observation the children voided between 1 and 9 times(mean 3.5 times). The voiding frequency and residual urine decreased with age, while the voiding volume and bladder capacity increased. In all children the residual volume was less than 5ml. at least once during the observation. There were no significant differences between male and female children in the voiding frequency, mean voided volume and mean residual urine.
CONCLUSIONS
The 4-hour voiding observation is an easy noninvasive method of characterizing the voiding patterns in infants and non-toilet trained children. During the first 3 years of life the number of voiding episodes and residual urine decreased, while the voiding volume and bladder capacity increased. Our study may be used as reference data for the normal voiding pattern in healthy Korean children aged between 0 and 3 years.

Keyword

Children; Bladder; Urination

MeSH Terms

Child*
Child, Preschool*
Female
Humans
Infant
Male
Residual Volume
Ultrasonography
Urinary Bladder
Urination