Postmenopausal women with diabetes have a greater risk of developing urinary tract infections (UTIs) than women who do not suffer from the disease, according to a recently released study.

Researchers from the University of Washington, Seattle, studied 218 diabetic and 799 non-diabetic women ages 55 to 75. They found that diabetic women with diabetes had an 80% greater risk of suffering a UTI than non-diabetics. From 1998 to 2002, a total of 6.7 non-diabetic women per 100, compared with 12.2 diabetics per 100, developed a UTI.

The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, also found that women taking insulin and those who had had diabetes for a longer time had the highest risk for UTIs.