Abstract
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.
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Editorial Comment: The authors examine the repeatability of the 24-hour pad test through a well-designed study. Through the appropriate use of statistical methodology, they answer several important research questions regarding this diagnostic tool. They conclude that the 24-hour pad test is adequate to predict the results of 7-day pad tests. There is very little variability among the consecutive days. Three days is the number of days required to approximate the 7-day average. In order to identify the validity of the pad test as a medical test, we need to extend the work of the authors to answer future research questions, such as: do one or three 24-hour pad tests predict the results of other diagnostic tools available to us? These would include patient’s symptoms collected by direct interview or by the use of a validated questionnaire, urodynamic studies and a cough stress test
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Karantanis, E., Allen, W., Stevermuer, T.L. et al. The repeatability of the 24-hour pad test. Int Urogynecol J 16, 63–68 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-004-1199-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-004-1199-8