‘Millions of women are suffering who don’t have to’: why it’s time to end the misery of UTIs

Welcome to the Great UTI Scandal, a story of unnecessary suffering for millions, needless hospital admissions, antibiotic resistance, sepsis-related deaths and basic ignorance of the science around female bodies. Women are 30 times more likely to get a urinary tract infection than men, and UTIs are agonising and occasionally fatal. In the past five years, there were 1.8m hospital admissions involving UTIs in England alone, plus even more GP appointments. This is not just a gender health gap – it’s a dangerous crevasse. But is there another way?

“Killer UTIs! Kept getting them, doctors were dismissive and directing me to chemist treatments, so gave up with them. Got an infection that tracked to kidneys, rang doctors twice for help and was turned away. Ended up as emergency admission to hospital via blue lights ambulance and a week’s stay on IV antibiotics”: @staveleynatalie

My @menoscandal Instagram is filled with messages like this. I’ve written a book on the menopause and made two Channel 4 documentaries with Davina McCall, so tales of perimenopausal pee panic, urethras and UTIs are my bread and butter. I’ve also talked to experts, here and in America, about how we can blitz the rate of UTIs with one simple change in the way we treat women (and some non-binary people and trans men). It could save the NHS millions.

Younger women do suffer from infections, dehydration and post-sex cystitis, but the brunt is borne by older women. UTI rates shoot upwards when women hit 45 and are perimenopause. The loss of the hormone oestrogen leaves the vulva dry in menopause (and sometimes post-pregnancy), a condition previously called “vaginal atrophy” – perhaps because early medics were only focused on those lady parts useful to men.

Now, the hormone deficiency has been renamed Genitourinary Syndrome

of Menopause (GSM) and Dr Rachel Rubin, a campaigning urologist in the States and assistant clinical professor in Urology at Georgetown University Hospital, explained why. “This is not just vaginal dryness. GSM is a very serious condition. Without hormones in the local environment of the vagina and the bladder, you are

Shuran Huang/New York Times/Redux/eyevine ‘The issues are discomfort, pain, irritation, burning and itching’: Dr Rachel Rubin, a urologist and sexual health specialist, at her clinic in Rockville, Maryland, USA. Photograph:

Peter Dazeley/Getty Images Desperate for help: ‘Got an infection that tracked to kidneys, rang doctors twice for help and was turned away.’ Photograph: