Innovative, Technology-Driven, Digital Tools for Managing Pediatric Urinary Incontinence: Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Pediatric Urology
• Behavioral Interventions

Background:

• Pediatric urinary incontinence affects a significant portion of children, with current treatments facing challenges in patient motivation and adherence.
• Traditional pen-and-paper methods are often perceived as outdated by today's digitally native children.
• Digital interventions have demonstrated success in other pediatric healthcare domains.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review to identify and map innovative, technology-driven digital tools for managing pediatric urinary incontinence.
• To categorize and analyze the landscape of existing digital interventions for children with bladder and bowel dysfunctions.

Main Methods:

• Searched PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library in March 2022 without date restrictions.
• Included studies focused on noninvasive, technology-based interventions for pediatric patients (≤18 years) with bladder and bowel dysfunctions.
• Excluded studies on adults, invasive treatments, conventional methods without tangible tools, non-English, inaccessible, or result-lacking articles.

Main Results:

• Identified six main categories of digital tools: digital self-management, serious games, reminder technology, educational media, telehealth/remote patient monitoring, and enuresis alarm innovations.
• Enuresis alarm innovations and telehealth/remote patient monitoring constituted the largest categories (32% and 20%, respectively).
• Digital tools were described as promising, feasible alternatives enhancing engagement, compliance, and patient satisfaction.

Conclusions:

• The field shows considerable innovation in digital tools for pediatric urinary incontinence management.
• These tools offer potential benefits such as improved adherence and patient satisfaction, alongside time savings for healthcare providers.
• Gaps in research necessitate more rigorous studies to assess effectiveness and guide the development of integrated, adaptive, and personalized digital solutions.