Preliminary report: amantadine hydrochloride in childhood enuresis

This pilot study tests the hypotheses that a dopamine agonist would be beneficial in childhood enuresis. Amantadine hydrochloride, a dopamine agonist and antiviral agent, was administered openly for a 4-week period to six primary enuretic children (five boys and one girl) with a mean age of 9:1. The mean baseline wetting frequency was 0.739 (range, 0.429 to 0.909). During amantadine treatment, average wetting frequency decreased to 0.436 (range, 0.210 to 0.690). This 41% reduction was significant at the p less than 0.05 level (Wilcoxon). Response persisted during a 2-week follow-up period off medication as the average wetting frequency (0.381) remained significantly less than baseline. There was no significant difference between the 4-week drug trial and follow-up values. These preliminary findings support the hypothesis that dopamine agonists influence urinary continence in enuretic children. Further investigations are warranted to expand this preliminary data and clarify the physiological and biochemical aspects of this disorder.