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Older women with diabetes at higher risk of urinary infection

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Summary of story from PTV News, viagra buy 26.1.11.

Rates of urinary tract infection (UTI) are higher among diabetic, post-menopausal women than among those without diabetes, according to a new study.

A UTI is a common type of infection and the symptoms include pain or a burning sensation during urination, a frequent need to urinate and lower abdominal pain. Untreated UTI can cause kidney failure or even blood poisoning in diabetic patients.

Dr. Edward J. Boyko and his colleagues, from the University of Washington, Seattle, observed 218 diabetic and 799 non-diabetic women aged between 55 and 75 from 1998 to 2002.

Women’s reports of a UTI were confirmed by microbiological culture and medical record review.

A total of 71 non-diabetic and 26 diabetic women developed UTI during follow-up, which translated to a rate equivalent to 6.7 and 12.2 infections per 100 persons per year, respectively.

Women with diabetes had an 80 per cent higher risk, the researchers report in the American Journal of Epidemiology.  The increased risk for UTI was highest for women taking insulin and in those with a longer duration of diabetes.

“These characteristics were also good predictors of other diabetes complications such as (retina damage) or kidney disease,” Boyko said.

“We did not find an association between recent glucose control … and risk of urinary tract infection,” he added. “This finding suggests that urinary tract infection may be due to long-term effect of high glucose as opposed to a shorter-term exposure to high glucose.”

UTIs are more common in women that men. The NHS estimates that one in three women will have a UTI before the age of 24, and half of all women will have at least one UTI during their lifetime.

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