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. 2020 Oct;47(10):686-690.
doi: 10.1097/OLQ.0000000000001230.

Provider Adherence to Syphilis Testing Guidelines Among Stillbirth Cases

Yenling Andrew Ho  1 , Katie Allen, Guoyu Tao  2 , Chirag G Patel  2 , Janet N Arno, Andrea A Broyles  3 , Brian E Dixon
Affiliations

Provider Adherence to Syphilis Testing Guidelines Among Stillbirth Cases

Yenling Andrew Ho et al. Sex Transm Dis. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Background: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all women with a stillbirth have a syphilis test after delivery. Our study seeks to evaluate adherence to CDC guidelines for syphilis screening among women with a stillbirth delivery.

Methods: We used data recorded in electronic health records for women who gave birth between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2016. Patients were included if they were 18 to 44 years old and possessed an International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision or Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnosis of stillbirth. Stillbirth diagnoses were confirmed through a random sample of medical chart reviews. To evaluate syphilis screening, we estimated the proportion of women who received syphilis testing within 300 days before stillbirth, women who received syphilis testing within 30 days after a stillbirth delivery, and women who received syphilis testing both before and after stillbirth delivery.

Results: We identified 1111 stillbirths among a population of 865,429 unique women with encounter data available from electronic health records. Among a sample of 127 chart-reviewed cases, only 35 (27.6%) were confirmed stillbirth cases, 45 (35.4%) possible stillbirth cases, 39 (30.7%) cases of miscarriage, and 8 (6.3%) cases of live births. Among confirmed stillbirth cases, 51.4% had any syphilis testing conducted, 31.4% had testing before their stillbirth delivery, 42.9% had testing after the delivery, and only 22.9% had testing before and after delivery.

Conclusions: A majority of women with a stillbirth delivery do not receive syphilis screening adherent to CDC guidelines. Stillbirth International Classification of Diseases codes do not accurately identify cases of stillbirth.

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References

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