a Urology
b Obstetrics and Gynecology
c Pediatrics, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey
d Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, New Jersey
e Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey
| ABSTRACT |
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METHODS. A case-control study was conducted in a pediatric continence center and a general pediatric practice. Cases (n = 55) were recruited from the continence center and defined as children 5 to 13 years of age who experienced lifetime involuntary voiding of urine during nighttime sleep at least 2 times a week in the absence of defects of the central nervous system or urinary tract. Age- and gender-matched controls (n = 117) who did not exhibit bed-wetting were enrolled from a general pediatric practice. Infant feeding practices were measured as breastfeeding (yes/no) and, for those who were breastfeed, by the duration of breastfeeding and the time of formula supplementation.
RESULTS. Among the case subjects, 45.5% were breastfed, whereas among the controls 81.2% were breastfed. The controls reported higher household incomes than the case subjects, and their mean family size (number of children) was slightly lower. After adjusting for race, income, and family size, the odds ratio was 0.283, indicating that case subjects were significantly less likely than controls to be breastfeed. Among all the study subjects who were breastfed, controls were breastfed for a significantly longer period than case subjects (an average of 3 months longer). Although breastfed controls were less likely to be supplemented with formula than breastfed case subjects, this difference was not statistically significant.
CONCLUSIONS. Breastfeeding longer than 3 months may protect against bed-wetting during childhood. Breast milk supplemented with formula did not make a difference in the rate of enuresis.
Key Words: bed-wetting breastfeeding enuresis
Abbreviations: ORodds ratio CIconfidence interval CDCCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
Bed-wetting is defined as the involuntary voiding of urine during nighttime sleep in the absence of defects of the central nervous system or urinary tract in a child aged 5 years or older.1 It is estimated that 6 million children wet the bed annually in the United States. The condition occurs in 15% of 5-year-olds, 5% of 10-year-olds, and 1% of 13-year-olds.2 Without treatment,
15% of children stop bed-wetting annually. The prognosis for bed-wetting is usually spontaneous resolution; however, 1% of these cases are resistant to all treatment modalities.
Several etiologies have been proposed for bed-wetting, including developmental delay, immature sleep pattern, immature bladder function, and insufficient nocturnal antidiuretic hormone.35 All of these etiologies for bed-wetting are related to delayed development because they are seen normally in younger children.6
A constant observation that strongly supports the developmental delay theory for bed-wetting is the childs natural tendency to outgrow bed-wetting. Bed-wetting is also considered normal in younger children and infants. The developmental theory for bed-wetting is supported further by clinical data that demonstrate more developmental delays in children with bed-wetting compared with controls.68 Therefore, there is strong and diverse clinical evidence that many cases of bed-wetting are a result of developmental delay.
Causes for bed-wetting that may not be developmental include psychosocial and familial factors. The effects of psychosocial factors such as stress are unclear but have been reported to be associated with bed-wetting. Also, familial causes for bed-wetting have been identified, indicating that some cases of bed-wetting tend to run in families.2
We examined the relationship between bed-wetting and breastfeeding because both have been reported to be strongly associated with childhood development. For example, since 1978, there has been increasing clinical and basic science evidence demonstrating that breastfeeding may provide visual, growth, and cognitive, neurodevelopmental advantages to children, compared with feeding with infant formula.912 It has been suggested that the developmental advantages seen in breastfed children are a result of higher n-3 and n-6 long-chain fatty acids found in breast milk compared with infant formula.1315 These long-chain fatty acids are essential for the provision of rapid growth, fat-soluble vitamins, and essential fatty acids for the developing child.
Because breastfeeding and bed-wetting have both been associated with neurodevelopment, the objective of this study was to examine whether breastfeeding during infancy protects against bed-wetting during childhood by providing neurodevelopmental advantages to the child.
| METHODS |
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Controls were defined as healthy children with typical development and no history of bed-wetting after the age of 4 years. Case subjects were children suffering from active bed-wetting, which was defined according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, as the involuntary voiding of urine during nighttime sleep at least 2 times per week in the absence of defects of the central nervous system or urinary tract in a child aged 5 years or older.16 To meet the inclusion criteria, case subjects must have exhibited a lifelong history of bed-wetting and urine dipstick analysis must have shown normal glucose and protein levels and a specific gravity of
1.022.17 A single random urine dipstick was used to rule out a concentrating abnormality, because a concentrating deficit is unlikely if a random urine osmolarity is >1.022. We did not determine nocturnal urine concentrating ability between the 2 groups, because limiting fluid intake or using daytime diuretics to produce a relative dehydration and higher nocturnal urinary osmolarity have not been effective in the treatment of enuresis.18 This is because it is delayed maturation of all aspects of bladder development that affects nighttime urinary control.19 Patients with known anatomic malformations of the urinary tract, urinary tract infection, daytime urinary incontinence, diabetes, proteinuria, and patients with neurologic problems were excluded. In addition, case patients underwent urinalysis to rule out other medical problems that have nocturnal enuresis as a symptom. These problems included urinary tract infection, diabetes insipidus, psychogenic water intoxication, and diabetes mellitus.
Key Variables
The questionnaire elicited demographic variables (date of birth, gender, race/ethnicity, number of children in the household and their ages), socioeconomic variables (annual household income, educational levels of the parents), and family history of bed-wetting (mother, father, siblings, second-order relatives). Bed-wetting status was measured by 2 variables: a dichotomous variable (yes/no) and the frequency of bed-wetting (times per week). Breastfeeding history was measured by 2 variables: a dichotomous variable (yes/no) and duration of breastfeeding (in months). Parents were asked if they breastfed exclusively or if they supplemented feedings with formula. If supplementation was used, the month that supplementation was initiated was recorded.
Data Analysis
Nominal variables were described by proportions and evaluated by
2 analyses. In instances of small cell sizes, Fishers exact test was used. Scale variables were evaluated by using Students t test and are presented with means and SDs. A crude odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated to evaluate the relationship of bed-wetting to breastfeeding. Adjusted ORs were calculated to examine the data for potential confounding variables, and the ORs were compared. All data were entered and analyzed by using SPSS 13.0 (SPSS, Inc, Chicago, IL).
| RESULTS |
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Among the study subjects who were breastfed, controls were breastfed for a significantly longer period than case subjects (an average of 3 months longer). The number of case subjects and controls who were breastfed for various durations is provided in Table 2. We found no difference in the incidence of bed-wetting if the duration of breastfeeding was <3 months. However, there was a significant difference between the 2 groups if the children were breastfed for
3 months (Fig 2). Although breastfed controls were less likely to be supplemented with formula than breastfed case subjects, this difference was not statistically significant (P = .248).
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| DISCUSSION |
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Our study may have been limited by recall bias for breastfeeding practices (eg, number of months of breastfeeding) for both case and control families. In addition, recall may have been more difficult if there were more children in the household and case subjects had more children in the household than controls. Despite this limitation, we demonstrated a significant difference in the rate of bed-wetting when infants were breastfed for >3 months. Singh et al22 examined the relationship between bed-wetting and several diverse clinical characteristics observed in 100 children who wet the bed. Although their retrospective study lacked controls, the authors reported a higher rate of bed-wetting in bottle-fed infants compared with breastfed infants.
The breastfeeding rates in our study were similar to the rates reported by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for New Jersey (non-Newark). In New Jersey, the rates for "ever breast fed," "breastfeeding at 6 months," and "breastfeeding at 12 months" were 72%, 38%, and 18%, respectively.2325 In our study, case subjects had a lower incidence of breastfeeding compared with those in the CDC report; the rates for "ever breast fed," "breastfeeding at 6 months," and "breastfeeding at 12 months" were 45%, 21%, and 5% respectively. Hence, the breastfeeding rates of our study group were slightly lower than those reported by the CDC. In contrast, our control group demonstrated slightly higher breastfeeding rates than those reported by the CDC. The rates for "ever breast fed," "breastfeeding at 6 months," and "breastfeeding at 12 months" were 81%, 51%, and 18%, respectively.
In our study, groups were well matched for age and gender. This matching was essential, because bed-wetting occurs more often in boys and in younger children.2 Our sampling framework yielded more Asian and Hispanic children in the control group and more white children in the case-subjects group. Although a literature search revealed no definitive evidence to suggest that bed-wetting incidence varies significantly between racial or ethnic groups, we did gather the variable and tested it for confounding. Our results show that although race may be a confounder, it did not change our results significantly. Indeed, a study that was performed in Scotland and England found somewhat similar results, with bed-wetting more frequent in Afro-Caribbean children compared with white children.26 Also, although breastfeeding has been shown to be less common among black and non-Hispanic children compared with white and Hispanic children, the reason for this is unclear and is more likely related to socioeconomic status rather than differences in health beliefs and parenting attitudes between the races.27
Although frank psychological illness has not been shown to be associated with nocturnal enuresis,28 psychosocial factors may be a predisposing factor for this problem. Therefore, potential confounding variables in our study included the differences in household income and number of children in household between case subjects and controls (Table 1). In particular, it has been reported that women of higher socioeconomic status are more likely to breastfeed compared with those of lower socioeconomic status. Parity has been shown to have minimal effects on breastfeeding rates.27 In our study, controls reported a higher average household income than case subjects and fewer children per family. To ensure that socioeconomic status or family size did not explain the observed differences, adjusted ORs were calculated, and the results demonstrated that although family size and income level may be confounders, they did not significantly change our findings.
Any child will suffer from nocturnal enuresis if more urine is produced than can be contained in the bladder or if the child is not awakened by a nocturnal detrusor contraction. Detrusor function is governed by the autonomic nervous system, which under ideal conditions is under central nervous control. Neurodevelopment maturation is essential to impede the development of nocturnal enuresis. For example, cystometric studies have demonstrated that urinary bladder instability (latent uninhibited bladder contractions) is more frequently seen in enuretics than controls.6 Over time, bladder stability and striated urinary sphincter control is achieved through neurodevelopment and maturation.
Several studies have reported that breastfeeding has beneficial effects on neurodevelopment in children.912 Breastfeeding has been suggested to not only provide overall developmental and psychological advantages to the child but also enhance neuronal development. Vestergaard et al12 showed that the proportion of infants who mastered the specific milestones for motor skills and early language development was higher with increasing duration of breastfeeding. Also, studies have reported that formula-fed preterm infants score lower on visual and developmental tests relative to breastfed preterm infants.29,30
The mechanism that aligns improved development with breastfeeding has been related to the role that long-chain fatty acids have in brain development. In infants who were exclusively breastfed for >3 months, red blood cell levels of long-chain fatty acids were related to improved visual acuity and cognitive development.31 These findings are consistent with our hypothesis that breastfeeding during infancy protects against childhood nocturnal enuresis by providing neurodevelopmental advantages to the child.
| CONCLUSIONS |
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| FOOTNOTES |
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Address correspondence to Joseph G. Barone, MD, Department of Urology, 1 Robert Wood Johnson Place, MEB 588E, New Brunswick, NJ 08901. E-mail: baronejg{at}umdnj.edu
The authors have indicated they have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose.
| REFERENCES |
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