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Evaluation of neuropsychological development of children diagnosed with primary monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis: A
Ayben Kılıç1, Duygu Övünç Hacıhamdioğlu2, Ersin Tural1
1Department of Pediatrics, Sultan Abdülhamid Han Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey.
Insights
Children with primary monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis show delays in neuropsychological development, including abstract thinking and problem-solving skills. Early neurodevelopmental testing and support are recommended for these children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Psychology
- Neurodevelopmental Pediatrics
Background:
- Primary monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis is often linked to neuromotor developmental delays.
- Understanding the neuropsychological profile of affected children is crucial for targeted interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neuropsychological development in children diagnosed with primary monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis.
- To compare cognitive and visuomotor functions between enuretic children and a healthy control group.
Main Methods:
- The study involved 30 children with primary monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis and 30 controls.
- Participants were assessed using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and the Bender Gestalt Visual Motor Detection test.
- The WISC-R evaluated verbal and performance intelligence, while the Bender Gestalt assessed visuomotor and visuospatial skills.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in age or sex were observed between the groups.
- Children with nocturnal enuresis demonstrated poorer performance in WISC-R subtests including picture completion, picture arrangement, and object assembly.
- Delayed performance was also noted in the similarity and judgment verbal subtests of the WISC-R.
Conclusions:
- Children with primary monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis exhibit deficits in abstract thinking, expression, cause-effect reasoning, short-term memory, and problem-solving.
- Routine neurodevelopmental assessments are recommended for children with nocturnal enuresis.
- Intervention should focus on supporting identified areas of developmental delay.
Objective:
Studies on primary monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis have supported neuromotor development delay. This study aims to examine the neuropsychological development of children with primary monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis.
Material And Methods:
This study included 30 children diagnosed with primary monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis and 30 healthy children. Both groups were analyzed by pediatric psychologists using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and the Bender Gestalt Visual Motor Detection test. The WISC-R test is an intelligence test that includes six verbal subscales (information, similarities, arithmetic, vocabulary, judgment, and digit span) and six performance subscales (picture completion, picture arrangement, block design, object assembly, coding, and labyrinths). The Bender Gestalt test is a psychological assessment instrument used to evaluate visuomotor functioning, visuospatial functions, spatial memory, visuomotor integration skills, and visual perception skills.
Results:
There were no differences in age (7.66±0.9 versus 8±1.07 years, p>0.05) or sex (20 females versus 20 males, p>0.05) between the groups. Picture completion (p=0.024), picture arrangement (p=0.001), and object assembly test (p=0.000) performance was found to be worse in subjects with primary monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis. Similarity (p=0.021) and judgment tests (p=0.048) of the verbal subtests were also found to be delayed in the nocturnal enuresis cases.
Conclusion:
Our results suggest that children with nocturnal enuresis have lower performance compared with the control group in terms of abstract thinking, correct expression of thought, cause-result relation, short-term memory, and problem-solving ability. These children should be routinely tested by neurodevelopment tests and receive support in areas in which they are delayed.
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