P847 Prevalence of bacterial vaginosis and vaginal uropathogens in postmenopausal women with and without oral hormone therapy

Objective: To compare the prevalences of bacterial vaginosis and vaginal uropathogens isolated from post-menopausal women taking or not taking oral hor mone therapy. Material and Method: This was a cross-sectional study comprising 100 po st-menopausal women who were asked to participate when they came for th ei annual Pap smear. Half were on oral hormone therapy and half were not. Women with the following conditions were excluded, those using any vaginal suppository drug or immunosuppressive drug, those with predisposing medical condition to vaginitis (e.g., diabetes mellitus, human immunodeficiency virus inf ection) or those who had had 3 or more vaginitis episodes per year. A specimen of va ginal secretion from the posterior fornix of the vagina was collected from each participant and proc essed for Gram’s stain and cultivated to identify the targeted organisms including bacterial vaginosi s and uropathogens. Results: Among the 100 post-menopausal women, the prevalence of bacterial vaginosis and vaginal uropathogens for women taking oral hormone therapy was 20% and 24%, respectively, compared to 44% and 54% for women not on oral hormone therapy. Bacterial vaginosis and vaginal uropathogens were less prevalent among hormone therapy users (p = 0.01 and 0.002, respectively). Conclusion: Post-menopausal women on hormone therapy have a lo wer prevalence of bacterial vaginosis and uropathogens than non-users. It is s uggested that post-menopausal women not on hormone therapy be made especially aware of bacterial vagin osis and uropathogenic flora in vagina.