Painful bladder syndrome/interstitial cystitis (PBS/IC) as defined by the International Continence Society is 'the complaint of suprapubic pain related to bladder filling, accompanied by other symptoms such as increased daytime and night-time frequency, in the absence of proven urinary infection or other obvious pathology' (Abrams, 2002). There is an extreme variation in the prevalence reports of PBS/IC in the United States and around the world. A 1997 report stated that 0.5% of the US population or more than 1 million people report having a diagnosis of interstitial cystitis (Jones and Nyberg, 1997). A prevalence rate of 8 - 16 per 100,000 females in the Netherlands has also been reported. In Japan the prevalence is 4.5 per 100,000 (Ito, 2000). Read about electrical stimulation treatment.
Back to Pelvic Pain Syndromes Back to Painful Intercourse |