Urinary tract infections are one of the most common bacterial infections in women, with approximately 50-60% of women developing UTIs at some point in their lives. After menopause, approximately 10 to 15% of women experience recurrent or complicated urinary tract infections.
Menopause itself is not necessarily the reason why a urinary tract infection becomes “complicated.” However, it causes changes that may cause urinary tract infections to occur more frequently.
The reason lies largely in estrogen.
Estrogen helps support the tissues and environment of the vagina and urinary tract, keeping them elastic and moist. As estrogen levels fluctuate during perimenopause and decrease after menopause, the environment changes, often leading to thinning of vaginal tissue, leading to dryness and irritation.
“The low-estrogen environment in the bladder after menopause makes the bladder a more hospitable place for the bacteria to colonize, multiply and reside,” Lane said.
Norlian had trouble urinating as a toddler due to an unusually narrow urethra, but said it wasn’t until after menopause that she had significant problems with urinary tract infections.
She recalled having urinary tract infections once or twice a month for several years. She eventually learned that her urethra was bent even though she wasn’t retaining urine, and her doctors didn’t blame all of her infections on this anatomical difference.
She suspected that the timing of her frequent infections was no coincidence.
“I still think I got a lot of them because the hormones were working less and less,” Norlian said.
