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CompletedNCT04024085Updated Feb 18, 2022

Time to be Ready to Void: a New Tool to Assess the Time Needed to Perform Micturition in Multiple Sclerosis

An observational study in Gait Disorders, Neurologic, Urinary Incontinence, Urge and Multiple Sclerosis, sponsored by Gérard Amarenco. Completed at 1 site in France. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-02-18.

Sponsored by Gérard Amarenco · Observational

Study type
Observational
Model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
70
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The aim of the study is to create a specific test to assess the global time required to go to the toilet and to perform micturition, at the moment the patient decides to urinate in multiple sclerosis population, and to assess its reliability.

Read the detailed description

Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are frequent in central nervous system disorders especially in patients with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). Prevalence of LUTS is important (32 to 96.8%) and increases with the multiple sclerosis (MS) duration and the severity of the neurological deficiencies and disabilities. Overactive bladder with urgency, frequency, urge incontinence, is the most common symptom, reported by 37-99% of the PwMS. OAB not only impacts quality of life but overactive detrusor associated with detrusor sphincter dyssynergia can lead to upper urinary tract alteration (reflux, dilatation, urinary tract infection). In the absence of risk factor, the treatment aims to improve comfort and quality of life. Anticholinergic drugs are usually the first-line treatment, but their frequent adverse effects (constipation, xerostomia, cognitive impairment) may impact compliance and adherence. The warning time (defined as the time between the first desire to void and the micturition impossible to defer) only partially reflects the possibilities of continence. Indeed, other numerous and various factors such as patient mobility, autonomy for transfers, speed of undressing, etc., can influence the global time between the first alert (first desire to void) and the imperious micturition and thus on the risk of incontinence.

The global time required to go to the toilet and undress is difficult to quantify and no specific and validated test is available for this.

The aim of the study is to create a specific test to assess the global time required to go to the toilet and to perform micturition, at the moment the patient decides to urinate in multiple sclerosis population, and to assess its reliability.

In this study, the investigators develop a new tool to assess the global time required to go to the toilet until patients are ready to void: Time to be Ready to Void (TRV). The different stages to go to the toilet are individualized, and two prior steps are defined: a mobility stage starting when the examiner gives the starting signal, includes the stand up, the walk to the toilets, and stops when the patient puts his hand on the door handle; and a settled stage starting as soon as the subject has his hand on the door handle, until he is undressed and in his usual and secure position to void. The "interval" or "lap" function of the chronometer is used to facilitate the recording. Difficulty of each stage is assessed by a 4-point Likert type scale with 3 indicating ''no difficulty'' and 0 indicating ''impossible or necessitate human help".

This study was approved by the local ethics review board RCB: 2018-A01644-51. Participants will be recruited in a Neuro-urology department during a medical appointment, an urodynamic assessment, or a day hospital related to urinary disorders.

Data collected are:

  • Medical history
  • Age
  • Sex
  • EDSS score
  • Urinary Symptom Profile score
  • Data of the last urodynamic
  • need to void with numerical scale between 0 and 10 before the test

To assess inter-rater reliability, two examiners record the first TRV try with both a digital chronometer. To assess reliability of the TRV, a second try is done after at least 10 minutes of rest, with one of the two examiners, checking that the need to void has not changed significantly.

To assess the internal consistency of the TRV, further tests are carried out:

  • a 10-meter walk test (10MWT) at maximum speed
  • a Timed Up and Go (TUG)
  • a Tinetti Mobility Test
  • the self-questionnaire Fall Efficacy Scale International for balance evaluation
  • a bilateral Nine Hold Peg (NHP) Test for dexterity
  • the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) score
  • the Katz - activities of daily living index (Katz ADL)

Statistical analyses will be performed with the R software for Windows (Rx64 3.2.3, R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria). Descriptive data will be presented as means with SD for continuous data and as medians with range for ordinal data and data not normally distributed.

Inter-rater reliability and test-re test reliability will be assessed using intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC, absolute agreement). Internal consistency with the complementary tests will be assessed using Spearman correlation.

02

Conditions studied

03

In context

Multiple Sclerosis

3,460 studies on the registry are indexed under Multiple Sclerosis; 661 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 70 is below the median of 100 across 1,016 observational studies indexed under Multiple Sclerosis.

Browse Multiple Sclerosis studies →

Lead sponsor

Gérard Amarenco is the lead sponsor of 7 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No
Sampling method
Probability sample

Study population

patients with multiple sclerosis who were consulting in neuro-urology department

Inclusion criteria

  • adult with a multiple sclerosis diagnosis,
  • able to walk 50 meters without human help,
  • Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) \< 7

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • relapse of multiple sclerosis in the last 7-days,
  • acute urinary tract infection
05

Study design

Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
70 participants (actual)
Patient registry
No

Groups and cohorts

  • Participants

    adult with a multiple sclerosis diagnosis, able to walk 50 meters without human help, Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) \< 7, consulting in a neuro-urology department

    Other: completion of the test created Time to be Ready to Void

Interventions

  • Othercompletion of the test created Time to be Ready to Void

    completion of the test created (Time to be Ready to Void) The participants have to stand up from a chair with armrests, walk 6 meters to the toilet, open the door and turn on the light, close the door, undress and position themselves to urinate

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Total time for TRV

    The participants have to stand up from a chair with armrests, walk 6 meters to the toilet, open the door and turn on the light, close the door, undress and position themselves to urinate. All the test is timed

    Time frame: 1 day

Secondary outcomes

  1. Time for the first stage: "mobility" stage

    , the "mobility" stage, starting when the examiner gives the starting signal, includes the stand up, the walk to the toilets, and stops when the patient puts his hand on the door handle

    Time frame: 1 day

  2. Time for the second stage: "settled" stage

    the "settled" stage starts as soon as the subject has his hand on the door handle, until he is undressed and in his usual and secure position to void

    Time frame: 1 day

07

Study locations

1 site
  • department of Neuro-Urology, Hôpital Tenon
    Paris, 75020, France
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Feb 18, 2022, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04024085
Lead sponsor
Gérard Amarenco
Responsible party
Gérard Amarenco (Head of Neuro-Urology department, Tenon Hospital, Pierre and Marie Curie University) — Sponsor-investigator
First posted
Jul 18, 2019
Start date
Mar 13, 2019
Primary completion
Jul 31, 2019
Completion
Jul 31, 2019
Last update
Feb 18, 2022

Study contacts

Gérard Amarenco, PhD
principal investigator · Sorbonne Université, GRC 001, GREEN, AP-HP, Hôpital Tenon, Paris, France

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Feb 2022. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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