Hellbuster
05-21-2006, 06:52 PM
As many as one in 50 teenagers still wet the bed, research has suggested.
Bedwetting, or primary nocturnal enuresis, has various underlying causes - such as a small bladder capacity, instability during sleep and a failure to wake up when the bladder fills up.
The joint team from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Prince of Wales University Hospital said children and adolescents who wet the bed at night also showed a similar pattern of daytime incontinence.
Some 32% of 11-19-year-olds with problems reported daytime incontinence - almost double the 15% rate seen among five to 10-year-olds who said they had a problem.
But overall, by the age of 19, only 3% of boys and 2% of girls were still wetting the bed.
Lead researcher Professor Chung Yeung, who is also president of the International Children's Continence Society, said: "Bedwetting showed a general reduction as children got older.
Bedwetting, or primary nocturnal enuresis, has various underlying causes - such as a small bladder capacity, instability during sleep and a failure to wake up when the bladder fills up.
The joint team from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Prince of Wales University Hospital said children and adolescents who wet the bed at night also showed a similar pattern of daytime incontinence.
Some 32% of 11-19-year-olds with problems reported daytime incontinence - almost double the 15% rate seen among five to 10-year-olds who said they had a problem.
But overall, by the age of 19, only 3% of boys and 2% of girls were still wetting the bed.
Lead researcher Professor Chung Yeung, who is also president of the International Children's Continence Society, said: "Bedwetting showed a general reduction as children got older.