Diagnosis, treatment, and notification of syphilis during pregnancy in the state of Goiás, Brazil, between 2007 and 2017

Abstract

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To analyze the evolution of syphilis during pregnancy notification regarding clinical classification, diagnosis and treatment in the state of Goiás, Brazil, between 2007 and 2017. METHODS This is a time-series study, analyzing data provided by the Health Secretariat of the state of Goiás. The variables related to the diagnosis and treatment of pregnant women and their partners were analyzed, and their evolution trend during the years. Descriptive statistics and percentage calculation were used. Cochran-Armitage test with a significance level α = 0.05 was used to determine increase and decrease trends. RESULTS During the period, 7,774 cases were notified. The highest percentage of notifications occurred in the second trimester of pregnancy (39.8%) and corresponded to primary syphilis (34.1%). The most frequent treatment prescribed was benzathine benzylpenicillin with a dosage of 7.2 million (43.8%). Between 2007 and 2017, there was an increasing trend in the notification percentage of latent (14.1% to 30.7%), secondary (5.2% to 19%), and tertiary syphilis (4.4% to 11.4%). The treatment with benzathine benzylpenicillin with a dosage of 7.2 million also increased (19.3% to 59.6%). The percentages of primary syphilis decreased (43.4% to 22.1%), as well as other treatments’ percentages. CONCLUSIONS Latent syphilis notification of pregnant women and treatment with penicillin at the dosage of 7,200,000 IU increased. Notification forms’ data completeness also increased for the variables clinical classification and treatment, suggesting improvements in the notification process.

Keywords

• Pregnant women
• Syphilis, pharmacologic treatment
• Serodiagnosis of Syphilis, trends
• Disease Notification
• Health care Quality, Access, and Evaluation
• Maternal and Infant Health care