WEDNESDAY, Dec. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Children are at increased risk of nocturnal incontinence if they also experience encopresis or daytime incontinence, according to a study published in the December issue of The Journal of Urology.

Premala Sureshkumar, Ph.D., of the University of Sydney in Australia, and colleagues conducted a study of 2,856 school children whose parents were surveyed using a questionnaire to ascertain incidence of nighttime bedwetting, defined as severe if it was nightly, moderate at seven nights or above, and mild at one to six nights within the previous month.

Several factors were associated with severe nocturnal enuresis, including male gender, bladder dysfunction, daytime incontinence and encopresis, the investigators discovered. Social concerns and emotional stress were only found to be associated with moderate nocturnal enuresis.

"Our findings provide new information for treating patients with all degrees of nocturnal enuresis. The results suggest that daytime incontinence, encopresis and urgency are significant modifiable risk factors for nocturnal enuresis," the authors write. "Longitudinal cohort studies are necessary to confirm these potential causal relationships, and randomized controlled trials are required to show the effectiveness of treatment of daytime incontinence, encopresis and urgency in children with nocturnal enuresis."

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