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NIDDK

In 1987, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) developed a prescriptive definition of interstitial cystitis. The primary purpose of this exercise was to define a specific sub-set of patients whose characteristics could be used to design clinical studies. It is a definition and diagnosis based on exclusion rather than inclusion, and mainly hinges on the triad of pain (on bladder filling with temporary relief on bladder emptying), urinary urgency and urinary frequency. The inclusion and exclusion criteria can be seen below. ⁵

The pitfalls of this definition however, arise when applying it to clinical practice. As an illustration, when compared to the international database of patients thought to have interstitial cystitis, the NIDDK's definition returned a false positive of 10% and a false negative of 40%.