OBJECTIVE:
to estimate congenital syphilis (CS) incidence and associated factors in conceptae of pregnant women with syphilis attending primary health care centers in Belo Horizonte-MG, Brazil.
METHODS:
retrospective cohort study of the period November/2010 to September/2013; data was obtained from electronic medical records; relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated.
RESULTS:
353 pregnant women with syphilis were included in the study; cumulative CS incidence was 33.4%; statistically associated factors were maternal age <20 years (RR=1.44; 95%CI: 1.05;1.99), low schooling (RR=1.64; 95%CI: 1.02;2.62), late starting of prenatal care (RR=1.65; 95%CI: 1.21;2.27), having less than six prenatal checkups (RR=1.37; 95%CI: 1.02;1.84), not having nontreponemal test (Venereal Disease Research Laboratory [VDRL]) in the first quarter (RR=1.68; 95%CI: 1.21;2.32), titer of the first (RR=2.86; 95%CI: 1.85;4.41) and last VDRL test ≥1:8 (RR=2.35; 95%CI: 1.62;3.42).
CONCLUSIONS:
congenital syphilis incidence suggests failures in prenatal care and indicates the need for new strategies to reduce vertical transmission of the disease.
Syphilis, Congenital; Pregnancy; Prenatal Care; Risk Factors; Cohort Studies
