So, a more precise number is difficult to estimate. The age ranges from as low as the early teens to as high as 80 years. The elderly in most cases have suffered for many years. In demographic studies in the United States, the average age was 51 years with an average duration of symptoms just over five years. As the disease becomes better known and better understood, it may be possible to diagnose Interstitial Cystitis at an earlier age.
Some research suggests that many men are misdiagnosed under the prostatitis umbrella.
It is not known if the deficiency in the bladder lining is the cause of Interstitial Cystitis or the result of having Interstitial Cystitis. There is absolutely no evidence that Interstitial Cystitis is contagious. A lot of information has been gathered in the last 10 years and progress is being made. At the present time diagnosis is usually one of exclusion - you eliminate a great many other diseases, combined with abnormal cystoscopic findings, to arrive at the diagnosis of Interstitial Cystitis. Sexual intercourse can be very painful.