Wijma, J., Weis Potters, A.E., Tinga, D.J. and Aarnoudse, J.G. (2007)
The need for an accurate objective diagnostic test for measuring incontinence during pregnancy and after childbirth is growing. Data on pad testing during pregnancy is lacking, therefore this study assessed its clinical relevance amongst this population, when compared with self reported symptoms of urinary incontinence and visual analogue scores.
The study found that although the diagnostic value of pad testing for measuring the severity of self-reported incontinence during pregnancy was not clinically relevant, they suggest that for the purposes of research, pad tests, combined with subjective/qualitative considerations, play a critical role in allowing comparisons across studies, quantifying the amount of urine loss and establishing a measure of severity.
International Urogynaecology Journal (2007) DOI 10.1007/s00192-007-0472-z