Sex as a Trigger, Avoidance as the Consequence: Characterizing Post-Coital Recurrent UTI in Women.

Authors

Dor Golomb, Orit Raz

Published in

Urologia internationalis. Pages 1. Oct 05, 2026. Epub Oct 05, 2026.

Abstract

To characterize the clinical, behavioral, and treatment profiles of women with recurrent urinary tract infections (rUTIs) who identify sexual intercourse as a trigger, and to compare them with women whose rUTIs occur independently of sexual activity. This cross-sectional study utilized an anonymous, internet-based survey distributed via social media and women's health forums between May 2025 and March 2026. Participants were stratified into post-coital (PC) and non-post-coital (NPC) groups based on self-reported perception of a temporal relationship between intercourse and symptom onset, without clinical or microbiological confirmation. Comparative analysis was performed using chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests; because the two groups differed significantly in age, a pre-specified age-restricted subgroup analysis (18-35 years) was performed as an alternative to multivariable regression, which was not considered statistically robust given the sample size.
Of 82 respondents, 42 (51.2%) identified sexual intercourse as a UTI trigger. Comparison of PC and NPC women revealed that the post-coital phenotype was significantly more likely to avoid sexual intercourse (73.8% vs. 50.0%, p=0.046) and to report damage to their intimate relationships (59.5% vs. 35.0%, p=0.045). These differences persisted within the 18-35 age subgroup. Despite this additional burden, overall quality of life (QoL) impairment was high and statistically comparable across both groups (73.8% vs. 80.0%, p=0.69). Significant management gaps were identified specifically in the PC group: consistent pre-treatment urine culture performance was substantially lower (45.2% vs. 75.0%, p=0.012), and vaginal estrogen use was less frequent in eligible women (14.3% vs. 37.5%, p=0.031). Post-coital rUTI is associated with disproportionate sexual avoidance and relationship damage, independent of age and overall disease burden; given the cross-sectional design and self-reported group classification, these findings are best regarded as hypothesis-generating rather than as establishing a definitive clinical phenotype. Targeted clinical enquiry, consistent microbiological documentation, and proactive post-coital prophylaxis may help address the relational harm this condition appears to impose, pending confirmation in prospective studies.

PMID:
42832463
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 06 Oct 2026.

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