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Anyone can get a urinary tract infection, but some people are more susceptible than others.
Girls and women, boys and men
In newborn babies, more boys than girls have these infections. After age 1, girls are about 10 times more likely than boys to have urinary tract infections.
From ages 20 to 50, women are about 50 times more likely than men of the same age to have urinary tract infections. It is estimated that almost half of all women will have at least one urinary tract infection in their lifetime.
The chances of developing a urinary tract infection are much higher in women than in men until around age 60, when the chances of having such an infection start to be equal for both sexes.
Sexual practices
Becoming sexually active greatly increases a woman's chances of developing urinary tract infections.
The use of birth control (spermicidal) jelly, with or without a diaphragm, doubles or triples the chances of getting a urinary tract infection.
Physical makeup and health conditions
Previous bladder infections
Women who have ever had urinary tract infections before, even as children, are much more likely than others to have urinary tract infections.
Anatomic abnormalities
People cannot control their anatomy—it's just something they are born with.
In a condition called vesicoureteral reflux, some urine flows backwards—up from the bladder into the ureters. This "backflow" can lead to kidney infections.
Physical blockages can occur anywhere in the urinary tract, increasing the chances that an infection will develop there. These blockages may result from defects in the urinary tract at birth, from scars left by old infections, or (in men) from the growth of a tumor in the prostate gland.
People with certain inherited diseases, such as polycystic kidney disease and sickle cell trait, sometimes develop blockages in their kidneys.
Men and women who have kidney stones and men who have an inflammation of the prostate gland (prostatitis) are especially prone to urinary tract infections.
Insertion of a urinary catheter
For various health reasons, sometimes a man or woman must have a narrow tube inserted into the urinary system. Urine then flows out of the body through the tube into a collection bag.
Urinary catheters are often inserted for a short time while someone is in the hospital or ill at home. During a long illness or for a sick elderly person in a nursing home, the catheter may stay in place for a long time.
These catheters increase the chances of getting a urinary tract infection in two ways. First, inserting a urinary catheter irritates the cells of the urethra, making it easier for disease-causing bacteria to attach themselves to the cells. Second, the catheter provides a direct route between the bacteria-free inside of the bladder and the bacteria-covered external part of the body. Bacteria can migrate along the catheter and infect the bladder.
Summary
Age, sex, body makeup, sexual practices, and health can all affect a person's chances of developing urinary tract infections.
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