Global, Regional, and National Burden of Urinary Tract Infections from 1990-2019: an Analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Objective: We aimed to estimate the burden of UTIs by age, sex, and socioeconomic status in 204 countries and territories from 1990–2019. Method We used data from GBD 2019 to analyse the incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to UTIs at the global, regional, and national levels. Estimates are presented as numbers and age-standardised or age-specific rates per 100000 population, with 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). We further explored the associations between the incidence, mortality, DALYs, and socio-demographic index (SDI) as a proxy for the development status of regions and countries. Results In 2019, more than 404.6 million (95% UI 359.4-446.5) individuals had UTIs globally and nearly 236 786 people (198 433 − 259 034) died of UTIs, contributing to 5.2 million (4.5–5.7) DALYs. The age-standardised incidence rate increased from 4 715.0 (4 174.2-5 220.6) per 100 000 population in 1990 to 5 229.3 (4 645.3-5 771.2) per 100 000 population in 2019. At the GBD regional level, the highest age-standardised incidence rate in 2019 occurred in Tropical Latin America (13 852.9 [12 135.6–15 480.3] per 100 000 population). At the national level, Ecuador had the highest age-standardised incidence rate (15 511.3 [13 685.0–17 375.6] per 100 000 population). The age-standardised death rates were highest in Barbados (19.5 [13.7–23.5] per 100 000 population). In addition, age-standardised incidence, death, and DALY rates generally increased across the SDI. Conclusions Our study results suggest a globally rising trend of UTI burden between 1990 and 2019. The results of this study could be useful in policy-making, priority setting, and resource allocation in UTI prevention and treatment.