Cranberry Products And Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)

Cranberry Products And Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)

Can the ingestion of cranberry products help to prevent or treat urinary tract infections (UTIs)?

• women with recurrent UTIs (conditional recommendation, moderate quality evidence ⊕⊕⊕⊝)
• children (conditional recommendation, moderate quality evidence ⊕⊕⊕⊝)
• adults who are susceptible to a UTI due to medical or surgical intervention (conditional recommendation, low quality evidence ⊕⊕⊝⊝).

• older adults living in an institution (conditional recommendation, moderate quality evidence ⊕⊕⊕⊝)
• pregnant women (conditional recommendation, moderate quality evidence ⊕⊕⊕⊝)
• adults with bladder dysfunction (conditional recommendation, low quality evidence ⊕⊕⊝⊝).

The Remarks

The recommendation for women with recurrent UTIs, children and adults at risk of a UTI due to medical or surgical intervention (e.g. pelvic radiation, gynecological surgery) places a high value on the reduction of symptomatic UTIs through the use of cranberry products and considers that cranberry products may cause gastrointestinal side-effects. This recommendation applies to any kind of cranberry product. The active component of cranberries is proanthocyanidin, but the optimal dose is not known and cranberry products can vary significantly in the amount of proanthocyanidin they contain, with some containing none or very little (Williams et al., 2023).

The recommendation against the use of cranberry products to prevent UTIs in older adults living in an institution (e.g. long-term care home), pregnant women and adults with bladder dysfunction places a high value on evidence from RCTs that showed no benefit in these populations. Research on other client-important outcomes (e.g. health-related quality of life) and costs was not included. Personal preferences should be discussed with clients individually.

A subgroup analysis based on the social determinants of health was not conducted. Due to the costs associated with purchasing cranberry products and the need to store products, the intervention may be inaccessible to individuals with financial constraints and those experiencing homelessness. Determining the optimal dose of proanthocyanidin should be a priority for researchers (Williams et al., 2023).

To see the full practice question, including the Summary of Evidence, Evidence to Decision Summary and References, click here.

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