Antecedent Antimicrobial Use Increases the Risk of Uncomplicated Cystitis in Young Women

• Published in: Clinical infectious diseases 1997-07, Vol.25 (1), p.63-68
• Main Authors: Smith, Heidi S., Hughes, James P., Hooton, Thomas M., Roberts, Pacita, Scholes, Delia, Stergachis, Andy, Stapleton, Ann, Stamm, Walter E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Anti-Infective Agents - adverse effects; Antimicrobials; Bacterial diseases; Bacterial diseases of the urinary system; Biological and medical sciences; Clinical Articles; Cohort Studies; Cystitis; Cystitis - epidemiology; Cystitis - etiology; Diaries; Female; Flora; Follow-Up Studies; Health maintenance organizations; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Infections; Infectious diseases; Longitudinal Studies; Medical sciences; Predisposing factors; Prospective Studies; Recurrence; Risk Factors; Spermicides; Urinary tract infections; Womens health
• ISSN: 1058-4838; 1537-6591
• DOI: 10.1086/514502

To examine whether antecedent antimicrobial use influenced subsequent relative risk of urinary tract infection (UTI) in premenopausal women, data were analyzed from two cohorts of women observed prospectively for 6 months to determine risk factors for UTI. Using a Cox proportional hazards model to adjust for covariates, we found that 326 women in a University cohort and 425 women in a health-maintenance organization cohort were at increased risks for UTI (2.57 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.24–5.32] and 5.83 [95% CI, 3.17–10.70], respectively) if antimicrobials had been taken during the previous 15–28 days but not during the previous 3, 7, or 14 days. The increased risks were noted both for women whose antimicrobial use was for treatment of a previous UTI and for women who received antimicrobials for other illnesses. These results suggest that recent antimicrobial use increases a woman's risk of UTI, perhaps by altering the indigenous urogenital flora and predisposing to vaginal colonization with uropathogens.