Urinary glycosaminoglycan excretion in patients with primary nocturnal enuresis

AIM: The aim of this study was to determine whether primary nocturnal enuresis (PNE) leads to alterations in glycosaminoglycan (GAG) excretion. METHODS: Twenty subjects (mean age 8.7 years, M/F 15/5) with PNE were included in the study. Twenty-two healthy subjects were selected as a control group (mean age 8.7 years, M/F 14/8). Urinary GAG excretion was measured using a modified dimethylmethylene blue (DMD) assay of 24-hour urine. RESULTS: The mean urinary GAG content was 33.9 mg/g and 23.8 mg/g creatinine in patients with PNE and controls, respectively; patients with PNE thus had a higher mean GAG excretion than did age-matched controls (p < 0.05). The association between GAG level and enuresis frequency bordered on significance (p = 0.068). CONCLUSIONS: GAG excretion in patients with PNE was significantly higher than in normal children, suggesting that measurement of urinary GAG may be useful in evaluating physiopathological conditions of the bladder wall. Further studies are needed to confirm this finding.