Association between contraceptive use and risk of lower urinary tract infection (LUTI): A case-control study

The aim of this study was to analyze the association between widely used contraceptive methods and the manifestation of lower urinary tract infections (LUTI) in patients treated in gynecological practices in Germany.

This study was based on IQVIA Disease Analyzer database and includes a total of 133,638 females aged between 16 and 50 years who received an initial diagnosis of LUTI including cystitis (ICD-10: N39.0, N30.0) between January 2011 and December 2020 (index date). 1 : 1 matching of LUTI cases to non-LUTI controls was used to investigate the association between predefined criteria and LUTI. A greedy nearest neighbor propensity score method was used to balance cases and controls with respect to age, pregnancy, visit frequency during the observation period, and comorbidities including cancer, diabetes mellitus, and urolithiasis. Univariate logistic regression models were used to assess the association between contraceptive prescriptions and LUTI.

The general use of any contraceptive method was negatively associated with subsequent LUTI. Injectable contraceptives and pills were negatively associated with LUTI manifestation. There was a significant negative association between monophasic preparations containing < 50 µg estrogen, triphasic preparations, and progestogen-only preparations and LUTI. By contrast, we found a significant positive association between emergency contraceptives and LUTI.

The general application of birth control methods as well as the use of injectable contraceptives and oral contraceptives were negatively associated with LUTI manifestation. In contrast to other birth control methods, the intake of emergency contraception was positively associated with a manifestation of LUTI.