Completeness and characterization of gestational and congenital syphilis records in Bahia, Brazil, 2007-2017

Abstract

Objective: To describe the characteristics and completeness of notifications of gestational and congenital syphilis across the state of Bahia, Brazil, in the period 2007-2017. Methods: This ecological study with data obtained from Notifiable Diseases Information System (Sinan). Incidence rates at the macro-regional and state levels and percentage of completeness were calculated. Results: 15.050 cases of gestacional syphilis and 7.812 of congenital syphilis were identified. The incidence rate varied from 1.3 to 15.1 cases in pregnant women/1,000 live births and from 0.5 to 6.7 cases in infants under one year/1,000 live births. The completeness of variable clinical classification of gestacional syphilis varied from 58.2% to 67.2% in the studied periods. Conclusion: The study showed an increase in the incidence rates, failure to fill out notifications and the need to the implementation of a routine information quality assessment.