Prenatal quality and clinical conditions of newborns exposed to syphilis

Abstract

Introduction: Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by Treponema pallidum, and results in considerable morbidity and mortality. Congenital syphilis can lead to miscarriage, prematurity, bone deformities, hearing loss and other important clinical changes. Objective: To analyze prenatal quality and clinical conditions of newborns exposed to syphilis in a public maternity hospital in Rio Branco-Acre. Method: This is a cross-sectional study that included 92 mothers diagnosed with syphilis during pregnancy, attended from July to December 2017. Two pregnant women had fetal death, and the final sample consisted of 90 newborns exposed to syphilis. An interview with the postpartum woman was used, analysis of the pregnant woman's card and search for information from the pregnant woman's records and newborns. It was considered confirmed case of syphilis in pregnant woman: a) All pregnant women who presented non-treponemal reagent test with any titration and reagent treponemal test performed during prenatal care; b) Pregnant woman with reagent treponemal test and nonreactive or unreacted nontreponemal test, without previous treatment record. To characterize congenital syphilis we considered: a) newborn whose mother was not diagnosed with syphilis during pregnancy and who presented a nontreponemal test reactive with any titration at the time of delivery; b) child whose mother was not diagnosed with syphilis during pregnancy and had a non-treponemal test reagent at the time of delivery; c) newborns whose mother presented a reactive treponemal test and a nonreactive non-treponemal test at the moment of delivery, without previous treatment record. Results: Most newborns were born in normal delivery (65.5%), 17.8% had acute fetal distress and 11.2% required resuscitation maneuvers. Prematurity occurred in 10% of births and 12.2% of them were small for gestational age. Complete prenatal care was performed by 29.5% of the mothers, following the recommendations of the Ministry of Health of seven visits to the Health Unit and or Health Professional. From the 90 pregnant women, 79 had a reactive treponemal test when admitted to the maternity ward. 29.3% of them performed the treatment properly. In the analysis about the treatment of the sexual partner, it was reported that 58% did not adhere to syphilis treatment. Conclusion: The prenatal quality of pregnant women with syphilis was lower than that recommended by the Brazilian Ministry of Health, although there are few cases of syphilis as the primary outcome in newborns with childbirth with mothers diagnosed with syphilis. Prenatal, newborn, syphilis in pregnancy, congenital syphilis.