GPIU 2020 study dates extended

The patient enrolment deadline of the Global Prevalence Study of Infections in Urology (GPIU) is extended to 31 January 2021. Qualified urologists and urology departments collaborating with microbiologists and infectious disease specialists are encouraged to join. A department can choose any Wednesday as a single study day within the period of 16 December 2020 and 31 January 2021.

The GPIU is a worldwide internet-based audit performed annually since 2003 which is organised by the European Section of Infection in Urology (ESIU) of the EAU. The study aims to investigate urinary tract infections (UTI) and surgical site infections (SSI) in urological patients, the prevalence of hospital-acquired infections (HAI) and the pathogens involved, among other issues.

Urologists are encouraged to join as the results of the study will provide national and international prevalence data on urological infections for use in further research. This will also enable participating institutions to benchmark their performance against national and international peers.

Participating urologists and urology departments are granted a certificate of infection control, online access to statistics, recognition in GPIU publications and are provided with slides on the study results.

The GPIU group stated that the project has obtained significant results and findings over the last 17 years. Increase in resistance, serious infections and overuse of antibiotics have been determined. They urge the urology community to take more concrete measures in response to the increasing prevalence of hospital-acquired infections.

GPIU also aims to involve as many countries, urologists and urological departments as possible for close monitoring of infectious problems and data comparison of different geographical regions. Possible risk factors and different strategies are evaluated and compared. The database management system allows participating investigators to access and download their results from previous years.

For more information on how to participate, please visit the official GPIU website.