Urinary tract infection symptom management in postmenopausal women: a qualitative exploration

We sought to complete focus groups with postmenopausal women to discuss their past experiences with urinary tract infections and other lower urinary tract symptoms to source input on how to improve patient care.

We convened 5 focus groups among postmenopausal women with previous experience of treatment for urinary tract infection symptoms. Participants were asked to describe their experiences of urinary symptoms and to make recommendations on how to improve patient education. Three team members read deidentified transcripts of the focus groups, developed a thematic codebook following Conventional Content Analysis guidelines, and coded the data using NVivo software.

Twenty postmenopausal women with previous treatment for at least one patient-reported urinary tract infection participated in five focus groups between February and October 2023. The average age of participants was 69.1 (SD 10.8). Three overarching themes emerged from analysis of focus group discussions: (1) barriers to effective care and treatment for urinary tract infections and/or other lower urinary tract symptoms, (2) finding relief via referral and guideline-concordant care, and (3) the physical and emotional cost of unresolved symptoms. While most participants had not found relief, those who did had been referred to a women's urinary health specialist. Once a correct diagnosis was made, real solutions were implemented, ending the cycle.

The management of older women with urinary tract infection and lower urinary tract symptoms is currently limited by delays in guideline concordant care. All of the information gathered will help us improve the care of these women.