Risk Factors for Urinary Tract Infections in Young Women

Urinary tract infections are relatively common in young women, particularly if they are sexually active and certain other risk factors are present.

Age range of women studied: 18-30 years

Independent risk factors for symptomatic urinary tract infections:

(1) recent sexual intercourse

(2) recent use of a diaphragm with spermicide

(3) history of recurrent urinary tract infections

(4) history of recent asymptomatic bacteriuria

Independent risk factors for recurrent UTIs identified by Scholes et al (2000) by multivariate analysis:

Risk Factor	Odds Ratio	95% Confidence Interval
intercourse frequency during the past month	5.8 for 4-8 episodes; 10.3 for >= 9	3.1 – 10.6 for 4-8; 5.8-18.3 for >= 9 episodes
spermicide use during previous 12 months	1.8	1.1 – 2.9
a new sex partner during the past year	1.9	1.2 – 3.2
age of first urinary tract infection <= 15 years	3.9	1.9 – 8.0
history of urinary tract infection in the mother	2.3	1.5 – 3.7

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