The repeatability of the 24-hour pad test.

A prospective observational study was conducted in a tertiary urogynaecology unit in women with the primary symptom of urinary incontinence to assess the repeatability of the 24-hour pad test. One hundred and eight women undertook seven 24-hour pad tests over 7 consecutive days together with 7 simultaneous fluid and activity charts. The results were analysed collectively and according to urodynamic subsets. Repeatability was assessed by repeated measures analysis of variance and univariate analysis of variance for each urodynamic diagnosis group (USI, mixed and no USI). Variation between pad test weights over the 7 days was low, supporting good repeatability. The number of days of pad testing required to approximate the 7-day average was 3 days. However, a single 24-hour pad test correlated highly with the 7-day average (r=0.881) and was considered sufficient to gauge leakage severity.

Randomized controlled trial of asthma education after discharge from an emergency department.

OBJECTIVES: To test the hypothesis that reinforcement of the advice given at the time of discharge from the emergency department by telephone consultation would improve asthma outcomes. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial of the parents of 310 children who had been discharged from the emergency department with asthma was undertaken. The parents were randomized to receive either standard care (155 children) or standard care plus education by telephone (155 children) from a trained asthma educator. Symptoms, parental asthma knowledge, parental quality of life and use of asthma action plans and preventer therapy were collected at baseline and 6 months later. The primary measure was days of wheeze in last 3 months; intermediate measures were regular use of preventer medications, possession and use of written asthma action plan, parental asthma knowledge scores and parental quality of life scores. RESULTS: A total of 266 parents (136 intervention) completed the follow-up questionnaires after 6 months. Both groups showed similar symptoms and process measures at baseline, apart from more regular use of preventer medication in the control children. At follow up, the intervention group children were significantly more likely than controls to possess (87.5% vs 72.3%; P = 0.002) a written asthma action plan. Possession of action plans increased from baseline in the intervention group but tended to decrease in the control group. Use of action plans was greater in the intervention group but decreased from baseline in both groups. Both intervention and control groups showed significant decreases in asthma symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Reinforcement by telephone consultation did not improve the primary outcome of wheeze in the last 3 months. However, it increased the possession and regular use of written asthma action plans in the intervention group.

Definition of mild, moderate and severe incontinence on the 24-hour pad test.

The values for 'mild', 'moderate' and 'severe' urinary incontinence have not been determined for the 24-hour pad test. To define these values, a prospective observational study was performed on 110 women with the primary symptom of urinary incontinence. Consenting women performed two 1-hour pad tests one week apart, and seven 24-hour pad tests for seven consecutive days. The 1-hour pad test definitions for mild, moderate and severe were translated to centiles, and used to categorise the 24-hour test values. This revealed that the range for 'mild incontinence' was between 1.3 and 20 g, 'moderate incontinence' ranged from 21 to 74 g, and 'severe incontinence' was defined as 75 g or more in 24 hours. Severity of leakage was analysed in relation to urodynamic diagnosis, age, parity and pelvic floor muscle strength. Increasing severity was associated with increasing age and parity. Women with detrusor overactivity were most likely to have severe leakage. In conclusion, this study defines the three grades of severity for the 24-hour pad test, which may help to guide patients' choice between conservative and surgical treatment and is useful for stratified randomisation of controlled trial participants.