Good Tuesday afternoon.
I want to share something with you that I have been thinking about since I read it.
A study just published in the Journal of Urology analyzed data from over 2.1 million postmenopausal women with recurrent urinary tract infections. The researchers looked at serious outcomes: sepsis, hospitalization, and death.
Here is the link to the article. https://www.auajournals.org/doi/10.1097/01.JU.0001109984.67114.74.36
Then they compared women who were on vaginal estrogen to those who were not.
For women over 55 with recurrent UTIs:
Sepsis rate was 10.6% in women using vaginal estrogen compared to 19.4% in women who were not. That is nearly double the risk without it.
Mortality rate was 0.42% with vaginal estrogen compared to 1.54% without. That is more than three and a half times higher.
Hospitalization rates were also significantly lower in women using vaginal estrogen.
These differences were not seen in premenopausal women. This is specifically a postmenopausal issue, and it makes complete physiological sense.
After menopause, estrogen deficiency changes everything about the urinary and vaginal environment: the microbiome shifts, the pH rises, the tissue architecture changes. Women become far more vulnerable to infection, and when infections happen, they are harder to fight off. Vaginal estrogen restores that environment. It is local therapy with minimal systemic absorption, and the evidence behind it keeps getting stronger.
It concerns me how many women are never offered this option, or are told to avoid hormones altogether based on outdated fear.
This study is one more piece of evidence that withholding estrogen from postmenopausal women carries its own very real risks. Recurrent UTIs are not just a quality of life issue.
For some women, they are life or death.
If you are postmenopausal and have been dealing with recurrent UTIs, please know that there is a conversation worth having.
This is exactly the kind of care we provide at Ignite Willow, and I would love to help you get ahead of it.
Feel Better. Look Better. Be Better.
Kindly,
Dr. Nichole Wilson, Family Nurse Practitioner
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Ignite Willow Health Optimization
226 Venture Dr. Smithfield, NC 27577
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