Genital bacteriology: a comparative study of premenopausal women with postmenopausal women.

Premenopausal women are reportedly at a higher risk than postmenopausal women of postoperative infection following vaginal hysterectomy. A study was designed to determine whether a relationship exists between bacterial flora and patient age that may explain the difference in the risk of postoperative infection. No statistically significant difference was found in the number or type of bacterial species isolated from the cervix or vagina of premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Postmenopausal women on a regimen of conjugated estrogens had genital flora similar to that of the other women studied.