The epidemiology of syphilis in pregnancy (original) (raw)
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Diagnostic accuracy of a point-of-care syphilis test when used among pregnant women in Bolivia
Sexually Transmitted Infections, 2006
Objective: To evaluate the performance of a point-of-care (POC) syphilis test when used in urban Bolivian maternity hospitals. Methods: We tested 8892 pregnant women for syphilis using the Abbott Determine Syphilis TP rapid POC test and rapid plasma reagin (RPR) in the laboratory of four large urban maternity hospitals where national statistics reported a syphilis prevalence of at least 3%. Sera were stored and transferred to the national reference laboratory (INLASA) where RPR testing was repeated. When the reference laboratory staff observed a positive RPR result, a Treponema pallidum particle agglutination assay (TPPA) was performed to confirm these findings. We calculated test performance characteristics for the POC test and hospital RPR using RPR performed at the reference laboratory confirmed by TPPA as the reference standard. Participants received treatment during their initial visit based on the POC test results.
Antenatal screening for syphilis at a tertiary care hospital in Riyadh
Annals of Saudi medicine
Routine serologic screening for syphilis is recommended for all pregnant women in Saudi Arabia. This study examined the results of routine antenatal syphilis screening at a tertiary care hospital in Riyadh. The results of rapid plasma reagin (RPR) tests were compiled for in 3270 pregnant women tested between October 2002 and March 2003 at King Khalid University Hospital. Any RPR reactivity observed in neat or diluted serum was considered positive and confirmed by a Treponema pallidum hemagglutination (TPHA) test. Syphilis screening constituted 87% of RPR tests requested for all reasons during the study period. The majority of women (73%) were screened between 15 to 22 weeks of gestation. Of the 3270 women tested only one was found to have syphilis, a prevalence rate of 0.03%. The prevalence of syphilis is extremely low in the antenatal care population at King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh. This calls for a nation-wide survey to assess the need for continuation of antenatal sy...
2015
Background: Syphilis transmission remains a global problem with an estimated 12 million people infected each year. Ninety percent of syphilis cases occur in low income countries. Syphilis is a serious source of adverse pregnancy outcomes for both mother and infant. Ideally, syphilis screening should be provided as part of a package of maternal and newborn health-care services. This thesis reports on a pilot intervention study to develop, implement and evaluate a point of care test for syphilis in antenatal care services in rural Burkina Faso. Methods: This study used a pre post intervention mixed methods quasi-experimental design with a group of health facilities offering ANC services (primary health centers in rural area) as the sampling units. This study was conducted in three phases, which consisted of a situational analysis using qualitative methods (Phase 1), selecting an appropriate test through evaluating 4 candidate tests and the participatory design and implementation of an intervention that included onsite training, provision of supplies and medicines, quality control and supervision (Phase 2), and an evaluation combining review of record tools, interviews, time motion study and estimating incremental costs (Phase 3). The conceptual framework draws on multilevel assessment (MLA), policy triangle framework, MRC framework for designing complex interventions and the Normalization Process Model (NPM). Methods included document review, seventy five interviews were conducted with health providers, district managers, facility managers, traditional healers, pregnant women, community health workers, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) managers in phase I and fourteen in phase III, non-participant observation, time-motion study, incremental cost analysis, and sensitivity, specificity and ease of use analysis of four candidate point-of care tests. Data were collected between 2012 and 2014. Qualitative data were analyzed through thematic analysis supported by Nvivo software. Quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics such as frequency, mean and median supported by SPSS. Findings: Phase I identified barriers to implementation and uptake of syphilis testing at health provider and community levels. The most important barriers at provider level included fragmentation of services, poor communication between health workers and clients, failure to prescribe syphilis test, and low awareness of syphilis burden. Cost of testing, distance to laboratory and lack of knowledge about syphilis were identified as barriers at community level. Phase II: Alere DetermineTM Syphilis was the most sensitive of the four point-of-care tests evaluated. The components of the intervention were successfully implemented in the selected health facilities. Overall, phase III showed that it is feasible and acceptable to introduce a point of care test for syphilis in antenatal care services at primary health care level using the available staff. The intervention was reported as acceptable, but of 812 pregnant women who came for their first visit 39% were screened during the study period. Rural facilities had higher coverage (66.8%) than the urban ones (25.6%). Quality control found no discordance between the rapid test and TPHA results. The average cost of ANC per unscreened pregnant woman was 3.11 USD (±0.14) vs 5.06 USD (±0.16) per screened woman. The main cost driver was the material costs notably the test itself. The test's cost is viii comparable to HIV test costs, but funder support for integrating this additional test is less readily available than for HIV tests. Conclusions: The findings suggested that an intervention that introduces point of care test for syphilis at antenatal care services is feasible, acceptable, and of comparable costs to HIV screening in pregnancy. Nonetheless, instructions and supervision need to be clearer to achieve optimal levels of screening and quality control, and barriers identified by health workers need to be overcome. The point-of care test for syphilis is likely to be acceptable by health workers as a routine service and incorporated as a normal practice in Burkina Faso context.
Is routine antenatal venereal disease research laboratory test still justified? Nigerian experience
International Journal of Women's Health, 2015
To determine the seroreactivity of pregnant women to syphilis in order to justify the need for routine antenatal syphilis screening. Methods: A multicenter retrospective analysis of routine antenatal venereal disease research laboratory (VDRL) test results between 1 September 2010 and 31 August 2012 at three specialist care hospitals in southeast Nigeria was done. A reactive VDRL result is subjected for confirmation using Treponema pallidum hemagglutination assay test. Analysis was by Epi Info 2008 version 3.5.1 and Stata/IC version 10. Results: Adequate records were available regarding 2,156 patients and were thus reviewed. The mean age of the women was 27.4 years (±3.34), and mean gestational age was 26.4 weeks (±6.36). Only 15 cases (0.70%) were seropositive to VDRL. Confirmatory T. pallidum hemagglutination assay was positive in 4 of the 15 cases, giving an overall prevalence of 0.19% and a false-positive rate of 73.3%. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of syphilis in relation to maternal age and parity (P.0.05). Conclusion: While the prevalence of syphilis is extremely low in the antenatal care population at the three specialist care hospitals in southeast Nigeria, false-positive rate is high and prevalence did not significantly vary with maternal age or parity. Because syphilis is still a serious but preventable and curable disease, screening with VDRL alone, without confirmatory tests may not be justified. Because of the increase in the demand for evidence-based medicine and litigation encountered in medical practice, we may advocate that confirmatory test for syphilis is introduced in routine antenatal testing to reduce the problem of false positives. The government should increase the health budget that will include free routine antenatal testing including the T. pallidum hemagglutination assay.
BMJ Open , 2018
Objectives: To undertake a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the test performance including sensitivity and specificity of rapid immunochromatographic syphilis (ICS) point-of-care (POC) tests at antenatal clinics compared with reference standard tests (non-treponemal (TP) and TP tests) for active syphilis in pregnant women. Methods: Five electronic databases were searched (PubMed, EMBASE, CRD, Cochrane Library and LILACS) to March 2016 for diagnostic accuracy studies of ICS test and standard reference tests for syphilis in pregnant women. Methodological quality was assessed using QUADAS-2 (Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies). A bivariate meta-analysis was undertaken to generate pooled estimates of diagnostic parameters. Results were presented using a coupled forest plot of sensitivity and specificity and a scatter plot. Results: The methodological quality of the five included studies with regards to risk of bias and applicability concern judgements was either low or unclear. One study was judged as high risk of bias for patient selection due to exclusion of pregnant women with a previous history of syphilis, and one study was judged at high risk of bias for study flow and timing as not all patients were included in the analysis. Five studies contributed to the meta-analysis, providing a pooled sensitivity and specificity for ICS of 0.85 (95% CrI: 0.73 to 0.92) and 0.98 (95% CrI: 0.95 to 0.99), respectively. Conclusions: This review and meta-analysis observed that rapid ICS POC tests have a high sensitivity and specificity when performed in pregnant women at antenatal clinics. However, the methodological quality of the existing evidence base should be taken into consideration when interpreting these results.
International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, 2015
Global guidelines recommend universal syphilis and HIV screening for pregnant women. Rapid syphilis testing (RST) may contribute toward achievement of universal screening. To examine the impact of RST on syphilis and HIV screening among pregnant women. We searched MEDLINE for English- and non-English language articles published through November, 2014. We included studies that used a comparative design and reported on syphilis and HIV test uptake among pregnant women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) following introduction of RST. Data were extracted from six eligible articles presenting findings from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. All studies reported substantial increases in antenatal syphilis testing following introduction of RST; the latter did not appear to adversely impact antenatal HIV screening levels at sites already offering rapid HIV testing and may increase HIV screening among pregnant women in some settings. Qualitative data revealed that women were highly sa...
Revista panamericana de salud publica = Pan American journal of public health, 2016
Objective To assess the effectiveness of a dual rapid test compared to a single rapid test for syphilis and HIV screening. Methods A cluster-randomized open-label clinical trial was performed in 12 public antenatal care (ANC) centers in the cities of Bogotá and Cali, Colombia. Pregnant women who were over 14 years of age at their first antenatal visit and who had not been previously tested for HIV and syphilis during the current pregnancy were included. Pregnant women were randomized to single HIV and single syphilis rapid diagnostic tests (Arm A) or to dual HIV and syphilis rapid diagnostic tests (Arm B). The four main outcomes measured were: (1) acceptability of the test, (2) uptake in testing, (3) treatment on the same day (that is, timely treatment), and (4) treatment at any time for positive rapid test cases. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were calculated to adjust for the clustering effect and the period. Results A total of 1 048 patients were analyzed in Arm A, and 1 166...