Global burden, trends, and cross-country inequalities of urinary tract infections in adolescents and young adults, 1990 to 2019.

Background: Limited studies have evaluated the global burden, trends, and cross-country inequalities for urinary tract infections (UTIs) in adolescents and young adults (AYAs).

Methods: Age-standardized incidence rate, age-standardized mortality rate, and age-standardized Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) rate were used to describe the UTI burden. The estimated annual percentage changes were calculated to evaluate the temporal trends from 1990 to 2019. The slope index of inequality and concentration index were utilized to quantify the distributive inequalities.

Results: From 1990 to 2019, a significant increase in age-standardized incidence rate (estimated annual percentage change =0.22%, 95% confidence interval 0.19%-0.26%) was found for UTIs in AYAs, and the increasing trend was more pronounced in males than females. Significant decreases in age-standardized mortality rate and age-standardized DALY rate were found in females but not in males. The slope index of inequality changed from 21.80 DALYs per 100,000 in 1990 to 20.91 DALYs per 100,000 in 2019 for UTIs in AYAs. Moreover, the concentration index showed -0.23 in 1990 and -0.14 in 2019.

Discussion: Countries with lower sociodemographic development levels shouldered a disproportionately higher UTI burden.

Conclusions: UTIs remain an ongoing health burden for AYAs globally, with substantial heterogeneities found across countries, sex, and age groups.