Epidemiology, pathophysiology and management

problem worldwide. This symptom is extremely ubiquitous and the frequency of this minor malady obliges it be considered one of the most important pathologies of childhood. This disorder as defined in ICD-10 and DSM-IV is characterized by involuntary or intentional voiding of urine, by day and/or night, that is abnormal in relation to the individual’s mental age; and which is not a consequence of a lack of bladder control due to any neurological disorder or to epileptic attacks or to any structural abnormality of the urinary tract. This behavioral problem has been identified in all cultures and may lead to a variety of psychosocial consequences such as emotional stresses and disruptions, frustrations, stigma, guilt, shame, social maladjustment and embarrassment. These psychosocial problems are shared in common E by a triad, which includes enuretic children, parents and physicians at large. On the contrary, it is also not rare that behavioral or emotional disorders may be of prime importance in the etiology of enuresis. There is, however, no straightforward unambiguous way of deciding between these alternatives in the individual case, and the diagnosis should be made on the basis of which type of disturbance-enuresis or emotional disorderconstitutes the chief problem. Despite its complex heterogeneous nature, the majority of enuretic children, ie, more than 80%, could be simply cured.1 Moreover, childhood enuresis is reported to remit spontaneously and in most of the children it ceases to exist by age 10. It has been reported that the majority of concerned parents perceive enuresis as a medical problem,2 and Childhood enuresis