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Maternal and paternal factors associated with congenital syphilis in Shenzhen, China: a prospective cohort study

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Abstract

Maternal and paternal factors create considerable obstacles to the elimination of congenital syphilis (CS). A clear understanding of maternal and paternal factors is important in order to define interventions in every community. This study aimed to investigate the maternal and paternal factors associated with CS. A prospective cohort study was conducted from April 25, 2007 to October 31, 2012 at the Shenzhen Center for Chronic Disease Control and Prevention (SCCDC) in China. We screened 279,334 pregnant women and identified 838 women with syphilis. Finally, a total of 360 women with syphilis were included for analysis. At the end of follow-up, 34 infants [9.4 %, 95 % confidence interval (CI): 6.8–12.9 %] were diagnosed with CS. Following adjustment for confounders, maternal history of syphilis [adjusted risk ratio (aRR) = 0.21], prenatal care (aRR = 0.12), and complete treatment (aRR = 0.22) reduced the risk of infants being infected. Every two-fold increase of titer of non-treponemal antibodies (aRR = 1.88), early stage of syphilis (aRR = 9.59), a shorter length of time between the end of the first treatment to childbirth (aRR = 5.39), and every week of delay in treatment (aRR = 2.25) for maternal syphilis as well as paternal history of cocaine use (aRR = 6.28) and positive (aRR = 3.30) or unknown (aRR = 2.79) status of syphilis increased the risk of infants being infected. CS also increased the risk (aRR = 8.02) of neonatal death. Maternal and paternal factors constituted two separate profiles associated with CS. To become more effective, future strategies for the prevention of CS should be targeted to each profile.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the patients for their participation in this study. This work was supported by the Programme of Prevention of Mother-to-Children Transmission of syphilis in Shenzhen, China. Funding was provided by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Central South University and Science Research and Innovation Projects of Hunan Province in China.

Funding

Jia-Bi Qin was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Central South University (2012zzts029) and the Hunan Province Innovation Projects(CX2012B076) of China. This work was also supported by the Programme of Prevention of Mother-to-Children Transmission of Syphilis in Shenzhen, China.

Ethical clearance

Ethical clearance was obtained from the research ethics review committee of the Shenzhen Center for Chronic Disease Control and Prevention. Informed consent was obtained from all participants who signed or fingerprinted the consent form after the aims of the study had been explained to them.

Conflict of interest

No competing interest declared.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Central South University, 110 Xiangya Road, Changsha, Hunan, 410078, China

    J.-B. Qin & T.-B. Yang

  2. Department of Dermatology and Venereal Disease, Shenzhen Center for Chronic Disease Control and Prevention, Shenzhen, China

    J.-B. Qin, T.-J. Feng, F.-C. Hong, L.-N. Lan & C.-L. Zhang

  3. Department of Dermatology and STD, Shenzhen Center for Chronic Disease Control and Prevention, 2021 Buxin Road, Luohu District, Shenzhen, 518020, China

    T.-J. Feng

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  1. J.-B. Qin
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  2. T.-J. Feng
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  3. T.-B. Yang
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  4. F.-C. Hong
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  5. L.-N. Lan
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  6. C.-L. Zhang
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Correspondence to J.-B. Qin or T.-J. Feng.

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Qin, JB., Feng, TJ., Yang, TB. et al. Maternal and paternal factors associated with congenital syphilis in Shenzhen, China: a prospective cohort study. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 33, 221–232 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-013-1948-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-013-1948-z

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