The prevalence of syphilis at childbirth in Ireland: a six-year review

Abstract

Re-emerging syphilis outbreaks across Europe have led to increasing syphilis rates among women of child-bearing age. We, therefore, identified all forms of syphilis cases among women hospitalized for delivery in Ireland over a six-year period. Cases per annum ranged from 10 to 24 (13.8–32.9 per 100 000 maternities). Rates of syphilis in this universally screened cohort were four times higher than the general Irish population. Future studies examining the incidence of congenital syphilis as well as patterns in follow-up treatment for the sero-positive mother and her infant are needed to better guide clinical intervention.

• ICD-10-AM
• pregnancy
• syphilis

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the Economic and Social Research Institute of Ireland for technical support and provision of the HIPE dataset.

Contribution to authorship: J.E.L., F.S. and E.J.M. contributed to the design and analysis of the study. J.E.L. and F.S. contributed to the drafting of the initial manuscript. J.E.L., F.S. and E.J.M. contributed critical revision of the manuscript for intellectual content and approved its submission for publication.

Details of ethical approval: This study was exempt from University College Cork Clinical Research Ethics Committee review as it used publicly available, anonymized data (Ref. No. ECM4(g)05/08/08).