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Evidence summaries

Oral Oestrogens for Preventing Recurrent Urinary Tract Infection in Postmenopausal Women

Oral oestrogens appear not to be effective for reducing recurrent urinary tract infections compared to placebo in postmenopausal women. Level of evidence: "B"

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 4 studies with a total of 2798 women. Oral oestrogens did not reduce UTI compared to placebo (RR 1.08, 95% CI 0.88 to 1.33, 4 trials, n=2798). Adverse events were breast tenderness, vaginal bleeding or spotting.

A systematic review and meta-analysis 2 of randomized controlled trials showed no decrease of the rate of urinary tract infection recurrence with oral oestrogens. Neither did another systematic review 3 find an effect with oral oestrogens.

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by study quality (unclear allocation concealment).

The following decision support rules contain links to this evidence summary:

    References

    • Perrotta C, Aznar M, Mejia R, Albert X, Ng CW. Oestrogens for preventing recurrent urinary tract infection in postmenopausal women. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2008 Apr 16;(2):CD005131. [PubMed]
    • Beerepoot MA, Geerlings SE, van Haarst EP et al. Nonantibiotic prophylaxis for recurrent urinary tract infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Urol 2013;190(6):1981-9. [PubMed]
    • Haugen W, Spigset O. [How to prevent recurrent urinary tract infections after menopause?]. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen 2015;135(1):42-4. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords