The use of two estrogen preparations (a combined contraceptive pill versus conjugated estrogen cream) intravaginally to treat urogenital symptoms in postmenopausal Thai women: a comparative study

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether the combined contraceptive pill used intravaginally was as effective as the standard conjugated estrogen cream for the treatment of urogenital symptoms in postmenopausal Thai women.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

In a randomized clinical trial, 40 postmenopausal women with urogenital symptoms were randomly allocated to two treatment groups for 8 weeks. The first group (n = 20) received a combined contraceptive pill by the vaginal route, one tablet per week at bedtime for 8 weeks. Each tablet contained 250 microg levonorgestrel plus 30 microg ethinyl estradiol. The second group (n = 20) was given 1 gm of an intravaginal conjugated estrogen cream at bedtime, three times in the first week, twice in the second week, and then once a week for the next 6 weeks (1 gram of conjugated estrogen cream contained 0.625 mg conjugated equine estrogens). Subjects were questioned about their urogenital symptoms, and vaginal cytologic smears, vaginal bacterial cultures, and urine cultures were performed before treatment and after 2, 4, and 8 weeks of therapy.

RESULTS

The vaginal pH and the proportion of the fecal type bacteria decreased in both groups, with no statistically significant difference between the groups. The karyopyknotic index and the maturation index were improved during treatment in both groups. An increase in the proportion of lactobacilli were recorded in both groups after therapy, with no significant difference between the two groups. No significant changes were observed in urinary bacteria. The therapy (combined contraceptive pill and estrogen cream) had a marked effect on urogenital symptoms (vaginal dryness, dyspareunia, urinary frequency, and urinary urgency), with impressive improvement comparably in both groups.

CONCLUSIONS

A combined contraceptive tablet administered vaginally once a week can alleviate urogenital symptoms in Thai postmenopausal women as effectively as the vaginal estrogen cream. However, the pills are much less expensive and are easily obtained in developing countries.

Condom use and first-time urinary tract infection

We evaluated the effects of condom use, lubricated condom use, and spermicide use on risk of acquiring first urinary tract infection in a case-control study of sexually active college women ages 18-39 years. Cases (N = 144) were women with first urinary tract infection that was confirmed by culture recruited at the student health service; controls (N = 286) were women without a history of urinary tract infection who were randomly sampled from all women enrolled at the university. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire regarding type and frequency of condom use during the previous 2 weeks. Condoms and spermicides usually were used in combination with each other or oral contraceptives. After adjusting for frequency of vaginal intercourse, using unlubricated condoms compared with using no birth control method strongly increased the risk of first urinary tract infection (odds ratio = 29.1; 95% confidence interval = 3.1-1,335). Using a lubricated condom (with or without spermicide in the lubricant) or a spermicidal cream or gel with an unlubricated condom was associated with two- to eightfold risk of first urinary tract infection. Unlubricated condom use was strongly associated with risk of first urinary tract infection, but this effect was largely neutralized by using a spermicidal cream or gel with the unlubricated condom or by using a lubricated condom.

Early-onset neonatal sepsis in Pakistan: a case control study of risk factors in a birth cohort

We prospectively evaluated risk factors for early-onset neonatal (EON) sepsis in a case-control study among inborn patients at the Aga Khan University Medical Centre in Karachi between 1990-1993. A total of 38 cases with blood culture proven bacterial sepsis were identified within 72 hr of birth (prevalence 5.6 of 1000 live births) and matched with two consecutive gender matched births with no complications. The most common isolates were Staphylococcus aureus (18%), group B Streptococci (13%), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (13%). Univariate analysis of maternal risk factors revealed a significant association between maternal urinary tract infection (UTI) (odds ratio [OR]20, 95% confidence interval [CI]2.4-166.9), maternal pyrexia (P < 0.0001), vaginal discharge (P < 0.05), vaginal examinations during labor (P = 0.03), and EON sepsis. The infected newborns also had significantly lower apgar scores at birth (P < 0.0001) and a significantly greater number were intubated at birth (Fisher's exact test P = 0.04). Infected newborn infants were transferred out of the labor room earlier than noninfected controls and significantly fewer received exclusive breastfeeds (OR 0.33, 95% CI 0.1-0.8). Our data suggest the possibility that both vertical transmission from the mother as well as postnatal acquisition of infection from the environment may be of importance in the pathogenesis of EON sepsis in Karachi. Preventive measures should focus at recognition of high-risk infants, strict asepsis during labor, and early institution of exclusive breastfeeding.

[The urological complications of contraception using intrauterine coils]

Being a foreign body, intrauterine coil causes decubitus and inflammation of the adjacent tissues. Long-term carriage of the coil may give rise to endometritis, myometritis, parametritis, salpingo-oophoritis, tubo-ovarian inflammatory infiltrates. These infiltrates invade retroperitoneal pelvic fat and may obstruct pelvic ureters. Ureteral obstruction may bring about ureterohydronephrosis, pyelonephritis and renal calculi. The coil may be also responsible for chronic pyelonephritis. The authors have treated 64 females aged 18-45 years with urological complications due to intrauterine coils which stayed from 6 months to 14 years. 34 of them presented with attack of acute pyelonephritis, 29 with renal colic and acute pyelonephritis, 26 with renal calculi. To arrest renal colic and attack of acute pyelonephritis ureteral catheterization and renal pelvis drain were performed in 31 patients. One patient has undergone ureterolithotomy. 8 patients rejected removal of the coil and had recurrent renal colics and acute pyelonephritis attacks. Removal of the coil arrested pyelonephritis and lithogenesis in the kidney. In one case of coil removal there was injury to the uterine cervix and urinary bladder eventuating in vesicovaginal fistula.

Urogenital Chlamydia trachomatis in Gabon: an unrecognised epidemic

Samples from 218 men with urethritis, 517 women with pelvic pain or pelvic pain and vaginal discharge, 218 women consulting for infertility, and 598 postpartal women were screened for Chlamydia trachomatis by culture and direct immunofluorescence. Chlamydiae were detected in 18% (39/218) of the men, 18% (45/252) of women with vaginal discharge, 14% (38/265) of those with pelvic pain, 10% (21/218) of infertile, and 10% (59/598) of postpartal women. A chlamydial prevalence of 18% (41) was observed in 229 postpartal women aged under 21, whereas only 5% (10) of 360 postpartal women over 21 had C trachomatis. In the other clinical groups, an age related decrease in prevalence was noted in women over 25. The direct immunofluorescence test correlated well with culture. The small difference in isolation between symptomatic and postpartal women indicates that women in this population do not seek medical attention for chlamydial infections and expose themselves to chlamydial salpingitis and infertility.

Calcium oxalate crystal growth in normal urine: role of contraceptive hormones

Oral contraceptives inhibited the growth of calcium oxalate crystals in female urine, and the growth rate inhibition depended on the dose of ethinyl-oestradiol in the oral contraceptive agent. The results suggest that the crystallization kinetics of calcium oxalate in urine could be under the control of oestrogenic hormones by an unidentified mechanism.