Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms and School Functioning in Children

University Hospital, Ghent250 enrolled

Overview

Children in primary school often suffer from lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), which may negatively impact their overall well-being. Co-occurring neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) can adversely affect children as well and can cause restrictions in their daily life, especially in their school-environment. The goal of this observational study is to identify the prevalence of LUTS in Flemish primary school children.The main questions it aims to answer are: * How prevalent are LUTS in regular primary education? * Is there a relation with well-being in school environment? * Is there an influence of co-occuring NDDs? Children, parents and teachers will be asked to fill in questionnaires related to this research question.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

250

Conditions

Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Neurodevelopmental Disorders Incontinence, Urinary ADHD ASD Developmental Coordination Disorder Child Development

Interventions

Questionnaire WelbevindenOTHER

A validated questionnaire recommended by the Flemish inspection of education to measure well-being in primary school children of the 4th, 5th and 6th grade.

Questionnaire Vancouver symptom score for dysfunctional elimination syndromeOTHER

Vancouver symptom score for dysfunctional elimination syndrome, Dutch version, validated by 't Hoen et al. 2016.

Developmental Coordination Disorder QuestionnaireOTHER

Validated Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire, Dutch version includes assessment of motor functioning.

Questionnaire concerning LUTS, NDDs and treatment perceptionsOTHER

Unvalidated, complementary questions including the presence of LUTS, earlier diagnosis of bladder and/or boweldysfunction and neurodevelopmental disorders and perception concerning treatment characteristics.

Questionnaire about policies and practices regarding children's toilet use and drinking habits in the classroomOTHER

These unvalidated questionnaire was based on the questionnaire developed by Ko et al. (2016) about the school's policies and practices regarding children's toilet use and drinking habits in the classroom, covering students in grades one through six. Epidemiological questions related to LUTS were added to complement the questionnaire.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 5 YearsMax age: 12 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Children in 4th-6th grade * Parents whose children are in grades 1-6 * Teachers responsible for teaching children in grades 1-6 * Children who attend regular primary education * Capable of speaking \& comprehending Dutch Exclusion Criteria: * High school students * home-schooled children * children who attend special needs education * Language barrier to understanding Dutch

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Bladder and bowel dysfunction

Prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms and/or bowel symptoms measured with the vancouver symptom score for dysfunctional elimination syndrome.

Time frame: through study completion from the parent-group, 25 minutes

School functioning

Quality of life in school environment, measured as the child's well-being about school functioning with the questionnaire Welbevinden.

Time frame: through study completion from the children-group, 30 minutes

Secondary Outcomes

Influencing factors on school functioning

Prevalence and influence of neurodevelopmental disorders, school-related factors and LUTS. Results from the vancouver symptom score for dysfunctional elimination syndrome, Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire, questions concerning neurodevelopmental disorders and a questionnaire about policies and practices regarding children's toilet use and drinking habits in the classroom will be correlated with results from the questionnaire Welbevinden.

Time frame: through study completion from the parent-, children- and teacher-group, 30 minutes

Perception of treatment characteristics

Perception of parents about treatment characteristics for lower urinary tract symptoms are evaluated by means of a questionnaire including questions about treatment perceptions .

Time frame: through study completion of the parent-group, 25 minutes