It's often important to collect a urine sample from an infant or toddler, but the process can be "upsetting for both the child and the carer," Dr. Patrick Davies, of Bristol Children's Hospital, UK, and colleagues write in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. "There is currently no ideal solution that addresses the problems of speed, convenience, effect on the child, accuracy, and risk of complications."
The researcher set out to see if a vibrating bladder stimulator would speed things along, in a study involving 110 babies, between two weeks and 35 months old, who were seen at an emergency department. They were randomly assigned to a "device" group, or to an "advice" group in which other methods of stimulating urine flow, such as massage and offering drinks, were tried.
The child's parents received instruction on how to use the hand-held battery-operated 60 Hz vibrating disk, which was used for one minute every five minutes.
A sample was obtained from approximately 30 percent of children within the first 15 minutes, with or without the stimulator.
Between 15 minutes and one hour 40 minutes, the device group obtained a sample approximately 30 minutes sooner than the advice group, Davies and colleagues report, but beyond one hour 40 minutes there was no difference in the time to obtain a urine sample between the two groups.
Five parents reported that their child was upset while using the device. Two parents noted a transient red mark on their child's skin.
The researchers conclude that "a solution to the urinary collection problem has yet to be found."