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JAMA Insights
Women's Health
January 29, 2020

Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections in Adult Women

Author Affiliations
  • 1Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
  • 2Department of Urology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
  • 3Division of Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
  • 4Associate Editor, JAMA
JAMA. 2020;323(7):658-659. doi:10.1001/jama.2019.21377

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) disproportionately affect adult women. Postmenopausal women are especially vulnerable to recurrent UTI, commonly defined as culture-proven UTIs that have occurred at least twice within 6 months or 3 times within 12 months. Current prevalence estimates are lacking, despite the significant negative effect of recurrent UTI on quality of life and health care costs.1 There is significant variation in patient care related to inconsistent recommendations from key professional societies due to lack of high-quality evidence supporting clinical guidelines.2-5

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