Research suggests that women taking menopausal hormone therapy may be more resistant to urinary infections

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Has been updated: 16:38 July 18, 2020 IS

Washington DC [USA], July 18 (ANI): In the first analysis of this kind, a US-based doctor Menopausal hormone therapy MHT, also known as HRT, contains various types of beneficial bacteria in the urine and can cause symptoms that prevent urinary tract infections.
The study also found that women suffering from relapse Urine infection Fewer types of bacteria in the urine than uninfected women, making them more susceptible to infection. This work was presented at a virtual meeting of the European Urological Association.
About 50% to 60% of women suffer painful urinary tract infections (UTIs) during their lives, and women are about eight times more likely than men to have UTIs. Urine is not sterile and normal urine contains a variety of bacteria, fungi and viruses. Physicians are increasingly discovering that people’s bodies act as hosts for a variety of innocuous indigenous bacteria that may help with processes such as digestion.
Currently, the first controlled systematic analysis of bacterial diversity in urine of postmenopausal women reveals how the presence of different bacteria is associated with recurrent urinary tract infections and susceptibility. I’m starting.
Led group Dr. Nicole J. DeniscoAssociate Professor, University of Texas at Dallas, collected and analyzed bacterial DNA from the urine of 75 postmenopausal women who were attending a urological clinic at the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. They were able to divide women into three groups. 25 women who have never had a UTI, 25 women who have had no previous infections (that is, more than 3 infections per year), and 25 women who have recurred. It was currently infected in the past. Recurrent UTI is a growing clinical concern that unduly affects postmenopausal women.
According to Dr. Donisco, DNA analysis I showed two things. First, women who have recurrent infections have fewer types of bacteria in their urine than uninfected women. Women without recurrent UTI carry about 10 times more bacteria. Second, 34 women are undergoing menopausal hormone therapy and tend to have more lactic acid-type bacteria in their urine, which means that estrogen in the MHT supports the growth of lactic acid bacteria in the genitourinary tract. May have suggested. We also found that women taking MHT by patch or orally had more lactobacilli than women taking MHT via vaginal cream.
This is important because lactic acid bacteria are known to play a protective role against vaginal infections and this function may be conserved in the genitourinary organs. Development of probiotics for use in combination with MHT may avoid the use of antibiotics in these women if Lactobacillus can really help UTI, but this needs to be tested .. This finding is also consistent with the observation that postmenopausal women, who are low in natural estrogen, tend to have more infections.
To our knowledge, this is the first focused analysis of bacteria in the urogenital tract of postmenopausal women and the results indicate that estrogen use is associated with high levels of lactic acid bacteria in the urine. And may provide some protection against infection. However, this is a small study and should be repeated in a larger group of women.
Further investigation is needed to determine whether controlling the bacterial content of the urogenital system can affect susceptibility to infection. Additional studies need to be done to determine the causal relationship between estrogen therapy, Lactobacillus colonization, and UTI prophylaxis. Potential future applications include administering probiotic vaginal pessaries to women at risk of infection and possibly prescribing estrogen therapy. However, it is too early to introduce them into the clinic. Estrogen therapy is not recommended for all menopausal women, an optimal formulation of probiotic pessaries needs to be developed, and UTI’s use in women should be tested. This is the next step in our research.” (ANI)
Florian Wagenlehner (Giessen, Germany), chair of the EAU Expert Group on Urological Infections, commented:
“This study, which evaluates the urinary microbiome of postmenopausal women, shows that patients with less urinary tract infections tend to have greater species diversity in their urine. There is more and more evidence to prevent infections, as the growth of lactic acid bacteria depends on estrogen, so estrogen supplementation may be a useful treatment for postmenopausal patients.