Objectively improving appropriateness of absorbent products provision to patients with urinary incontinence: The DIAPPER study

Abstract

Most of patients are provided with not appropriate containment products. The use of the 48-h pad test allows improving on an individual basis the appropriateness of products provision.

Patient pad count is a poor measure of urinary incontinence compared with 48‐h pad test: results of a large‐scale multicentre study

“…As previously reported , 60% of the used products were not appropriate because their absorption capacity was usually far in excess of the real leakage volume; however, our protocol allowed us to correct this inappropriateness and, at 6‐month evaluation, 88% of patients reported satisfaction with the corrected product provision .…”

“…The ‘Determining the Individual Appropriateness of Pad Provision and Enhancing its Realization’ (DIAPPER) pad test study is the largest published study to evaluate the appropriateness of continence products prescription . It is an observational industry‐supported programme performed across five Italian continence services (Novara, Napoli, Ragusa, Enna, Caltanissetta) and structured in two parts: a cross‐sectional part aimed at objectively assessing UI severity in a large cohort of community‐dwelling patients provided with continence products in order to evaluate prescription appropriateness, and a second prospective part aimed at assessing patient satisfaction with the new prescription after adaptation of the continence products to the individually measured leakage volume.…”

“…Many treatments, both conservative and invasive, are currently available, but regardless of the type of treatment planned, a comprehensive patient assessment is required, including an accurate quantification of the degree of leakage . In fact, evaluation of the degree of UI is a key aspect of its management with containment strategies because it allows the choice of a product to be personalized and well‐fitted . Similarly, an accurate measure of UI severity is of utmost importance to choose the best pharmacological or surgical treatment and to compare the outcomes of different treatment methods.…”

“…Non‐invasive measures for assessing UI severity are inexpensive, convenient, easy to perform and associated with relatively high patient adherence ; however, objective measures should be used because patients’ subjective perception about how much they leak is not reliable .…”

“…Nevertheless, some previous studies with limited sample size showed that pad count was a poor measure of the degree of UI in either community‐dwelling patients or nursing home residents . Several characteristics of patients, continence products used, and product usage may potentially impact the accuracy of pad count as a metric of UI assessment .…”