A growing body of research indicates an upward trend in the incidence of urinary tract infections (UTIs) around the world. Acute pyelonephritis (AP), which is dangerous by the development of complex, life-threatening conditions, is no exception. Today the demographic portrait, as well as the characteristics of the causative agents and predisposing conditions of this disease are a global issue for the entire scientific community.
In order to assess the data available in the global literature on the issues of epidemiology, etiology and predisposing factors for the development of AP, the search for publications was performed in the medical literature databases The Cochrane Database, MEDLINE/PubMed Database, eLIBRARY, ClinicalKey. The presented material includes, among others, 43 sources over the past 10 years, of which 31 publications over the past 5 years: the largest and most representative studies reflecting the current situation with AP in the population among patients in certain areas and under various exogenous and endogenous conditions. This study opens a series of three reviews on the problem of AP, involving discussion of key aspects of pathogenesis AP.
Analysis of the literature indicates fragmentation and limited data when comparing the incidence of AP in different countries and different periods of time. The complexity of the intranosological structure of the varieties of acute pyelonephritis today dictates the advisability of updating approaches to research in this area, and the disease itself dynamically evolves along with its etiological agents, the nature of social behavior of people and environmental conditions in general.

Keywords: predisposing factors, acute pyelonephritis, urinary tract infections, epidemiology, etiology