Statistics and Details

Incidence and Prevalence

A bladder infection is an infection involving the kidneys, ureters, bladder, or urethra. It is second only to respiratory infection as the most common type of infection. Approximately 8 to 10 million people in the United States develop a UTI each year. According to the National Kidney Foundation, UTIs are responsible for 8.3 million visits to physicians' offices and 1.6 million hospitalizations per year. UTIs account for about 5 five percent of all visits to primary care physicians.

Women develop bladder infections more frequently than men, mainly because the female urethra is much shorter than the male urethra, and therefore provides less of a barrier to the entry of bacteria. Approximately 40 percent of women and 12 percent of men will experience at least one symptomatic bladder infection during their lifetime. Although bladder infections are less prevalent in men, they can be more serious.

Approximately 11 percent of women report suffering from a bladder infection annually. Among the women who have a bladder infection, 20 percent will have a second bladder infection, and 30 percent of women who have two bladder infections will have a third. Approximately 80 percent of those who have had three bladder infections will have a fourth. Four out of five such women get another infection within 18 months of the last one.

Bladder infections are much more common in adults than in children, but about 1-2% of children do get bladder infections. Bladder infections in children are more likely to be serious than those in adults, and are more common in children under the age of two. Bladder infections are the most common urinary tract problem in children besides bedwetting. Bladder infections are rare in boys and young men.

Anatomy of the Urinary Tract

The upper urinary tract is composed of the kidneys and ureters. The kidneys are a pair of small organs that lie on either side of the spine at about waist level. They have several important functions in the body, including removing wastes and excess water from the blood and eliminating them as urine. The ureters, which are two narrow tubes about six inches long, drain urine from the kidneys into the bladder.

The lower urinary tract consists of the bladder and the urethra. The bladder is a small sac-like organ that collects and stores urine. When the urine reaches a certain level in the bladder, the muscle lining the bladder contracts to expel the urine. The urethra is the narrow tube connecting the bladder with the outside of the body. A muscle called the urinary sphincter, located at the junction of the bladder and the urethra, must relax at the same time the bladder contracts in order to expel urine.

Types of Urinary Tract Infections

Any part of the urinary tract system can become infected, with bladder infection (cystitis) being by far the most common urinary infection location. A bladder infection generally develops first in the lower urinary tract (urethra, bladder) and, if not treated, can progress to the upper urinary tract (ureters, kidneys). A kidney infection (pyelonephritis) requires urgent treatment and can lead to reduced kidney function and possibly even death if untreated. Generally, the higher up the infection, the more serious it is.

Bladder infections can be referred to as simple or complicated. Simple bladder infections occur in healthy urinary tracts and do not spread to other parts of the body. They generally go away with treatment with an antibiotic. Complicated infections are either caused by anatomic abnormalities, spread to other parts of the body, or are resistant to many antibiotics. They are much more difficult to treat.

Cranberries

Cranberries contain a group of compounds called proanthocyanidins (PACs). Other foods contain these compounds, but cranberries contain a specific type that has been found to block the adherence of E. coli bacteria to the urinary tract lining, thus decreasing the risk of a bladder infection. The anti-adhesion effects of cranberry intake have been found to last up to 10 hours. This indicates that two appropriately spaced doses during the day are more effective than one.

30-35 mg of PACs per day is needed for optimal anti-adherence activity. This amount is found in approximately 10-12 ounces of cranberry juice cocktail (27% juice). Two capsules of TheraCran per day also provide the same amount of PACs, without the calories and sugar in the juice. In addition, TheraCran capsules are more stable than juice, which can lose its bioactivity over time. TheraCran's bioactivity has been tested and proven in a university-based trial.

Newer research indicates that cranberry may also act elsewhere in the body against other bacteria. The adhesion of the different types of bacteria that cause both stomach ulcers, and periodontal gum disease, has been shown to be inhibited in the presence of cranberry.

Cranberries have been shown to contain more antioxidant phenols than 19 commonly eaten fruits according to a study published in the November 19, 2001 edition of the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. "These antioxidants may play a role in helping to prevent heart disease and certain cancers" according to the study's author Dr. Joe Vinson at the University of Scranton, Pennsylvania.