"The Urological Dysfunctions in Young Women: Inheritance of Childhood?"

Overview

Aim of the study protocol is to evaluate in a prospective investigation of health statistics if the dysfunctions of the lower urinary tract in women aged between 18 and 40 years may be the result of past urinary pediatric dysfunction. The aim is to be able to identify the "risk conditions" which, if treated properly in early childhood, to help avoid debilitating problems that manifest themselves as adults and possibly to implement a strategy of prevention. The choice of this age group is due to the fact that it allows for easier retrieval of data, as it is presumed that the concerned can more easily remember their history of pediatric and / or have parents still young enough to ask for such information. The problems of urinary disorders in childhood era have been the subject of increased attention by pediatricians from the end of the 70s, therefore, history taking may be more complete. A study by Fitzgerald evaluated female subjects with mean age of 56 ± 9 years, and therefore our study aim is to investigate an age group that does not appear in the literature to supplement these findings, already reported. Ultimate goal is the need to raise awareness of Pediatric Urologists to interact with adult Urologists in order to implement a shared strategy for the management of patients with problems of impaired bladder function in order to improve the future lower urinary tract function. Materials and Methods: A self administered questionnaire will be used in accordance with the guidelines of the International Children's Continence Society. The questionnaire consists of two parts: the first explores the history of urological clinic patient until the age of 14,in order to evaluate any symptoms reported in a specific category of typical dysfunction of childhood; the second part refers to the present together with urological disorders of sexual function which, as emerges from the data of the literature may be of relevance urological diseases detectors. The data obtained will then be subjected to statistical calculations by which will evaluate the significance of the symptoms present in childhood in relation to their penetrance in various forms of adult diseases dysfunctional bladder and / or sexual abuse, with the prediction of the evolution of the same. The questionnaire is anonymous in order to protect privacy. The questions that comprise it have been partly extracted from the questionnaire validated by the International Children's Society Continent and partly made by the authors of this study on the basis of the scientific evidence. Patients will be recruited from the outpatient clinic of the Urogynecology Urology Clinic, University of Perugia, while the healthy controls will be recruited by submitting a questionnaire to the women chosen to sample a healthy population of Graduate Schools found in the framework of Urology, Pediatrics and Pediatric Surgery, University of Perugia. The Investigators defined that the statistically significant number of healthy and pathological subjects can not be less than 200 units per reference category. The time duration of the collection of anamnestic data depend on the ability of the authors of this research in finding the subjects to be analyzed. There are no conflicts of interest to declare, no drugs or medical equipment will be tested .