Behavioral Factors and Urinary Tract Infection

Abstract

Voiding and sexual habits of 84 female university students with a history of recurrent urinary infection were compared with those of a control group. There was one highly significant difference between the two groups: 61% of the patients but only 11% of the controls gave a history of regular voluntary deferral of micturition for periods of one hour to longer than six hours. Sexual practices among patients and controls were remarkably similar. A behavioral regimen stressing regular, complete bladder emptying was shown to be effective in preventing reinfection in the patient group. Voluntary urinary retention may play a pathogenic role in women with recurrent urinary tract infection, and its correction may play an important part in the management of urinary tract infection.

Bladder health across the life course

“…Predisposing factors for UTIs in women increase in young adulthood with the onset of sexual activity . Risk for UTI is correlated with frequency of sexual intercourse , use of a diaphragm and spermicide , sexually transmitted disease and delay of postcoital micturition . Hormonal contraception is associated with increased risk of UTI , possibly through alterations in oestrogen levels.…”

Development and validation of a nomogram predicting recurrence risk in women with symptomatic urinary tract infection

“…Although the important impact of UTI on the clinical practice, in terms of high indirect costs and working days lost, the recurrence risk prediction of UTI episode currently lacks dedicated and validated tools. Risk factors for recurrent urinary infection are generally both related to bacteria and the patient's behavior, such as Escherichia coli adherent to vaginal and bladder epithelial cells, asymptomatic bacteriuria treatment, the use of a spermicide or a diaphragm, delayed postcoital micturition or the ABO‐blood‐group non‐secretor phenotype . Hooton et al ., by using a longitudinal cohort study on 796 young women, found that among sexually active young women the risk of symptomatic UTI was strongly and independently associated with recent sexual intercourse, recent use of a diaphragm with spermicide and a history of recurrent urinary tract infections .…”

A Prospective Study of Risk Factors for Symptomatic Urinary Tract Infection in Young Women

“…2 Thus, improved means of preventing acute cystitis could lead to important reductions in both morbidity and health care costs. Factors that may influence the risk of urinary tract infection include recent sexual intercourse, [3][4][5][6][7] use of a A diaphragm with spermicide, [4][5][6][7][8][9] delayed postcoital micturition, 4,7,10,11 and the ABO-blood-group nonsecretor phenotype. [12][13][14] However, these factors have been identified primarily in small case-control studies reporting widely varying risk estimates.…”