TOPICAL ESTROGENS PREVENT UTI IN POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN.

Recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) are common in women of all ages. However, postmenopausal women may have different predisposing factors than younger women partly because of hormonally induced changes in the vaginal flora. This randomized trial studied the effect of intravaginal estriol on recurrent UTI in 93 postmenopausal women.

All women had at least three recent episodes of UTI. They received either estriol vaginal cream or placebo cream daily for 2 weeks and then twice-weekly for 8 months. During the 8 months of follow-up, the estrogen group had a dramatic reduction in recurrent UTI when compared with the placebo group (0.5 vs. 5.9 episodes per patient-year). Ten estrogen recipients and four placebo-recipients withdrew from the …