Evaluation of the home pad test for quantifying incontinence.

The home pad test to quantify urinary incontinence is described. Patients conduct the test in their homes and bring the pad, in a self-sealing plastic bag, for weighing at their next clinic visit. The validity of the procedure was assessed by measuring evaporation loss from the pads and comparing the home with the standard hospital test. Evaporation loss was shown to be acceptable if the test was carried out within 72 h of weighing. There were no significant differences between home and hospital tests and 95% of home results were within 32% below to 16% above hospital results. This was at least as consistent as the "gold standard" hospital test as 95% of the hospital results were within 28% below to 44% above repeated test results. The principal advantages in performing the pad test at home are simplicity, cost effectiveness and the relaxed environment, which reproduces more accurately the conditions leading to incontinence when compared with the relatively unfamiliar hospital setting.