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Review
. 2022 Aug 31;75(3):483-492.
doi: 10.1093/cid/ciab944.

Syphilis Testing and Diagnosis Among People With Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Engaged in Care at 4 US Clinical Sites, 2014-2018

Timothy W Menza  1   2 , Stephen A Berry  3 , Julie Dombrowski  4 , Edward Cachay  5 , Jodie Dionne-Odom  6 , Katerina Christopoulos  7 , Heidi M Crane  4 , Mari M Kitahata  4 , Kenneth H Mayer  8   9
Affiliations
Review

Syphilis Testing and Diagnosis Among People With Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Engaged in Care at 4 US Clinical Sites, 2014-2018

Timothy W Menza et al. Clin Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Despite rising rates of syphilis among people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV; PWH) in the United States, there is no optimal syphilis screening frequency or prioritization.

Methods: We reviewed records of all PWH in care between 1 January 2014 and 16 November 2018 from 4 sites in the Centers for AIDS Research Network of Integrated Clinical Systems Cohort (CNICS; N = 8455). We calculated rates of syphilis testing and incident syphilis and used Cox proportional hazards models modified for recurrent events to examine demographic and clinical predictors of testing and diagnosis.

Results: Participants contributed 29 568 person-years of follow-up. The rate of syphilis testing was 118 tests per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval [CI]: 117-119). The rate of incident syphilis was 4.7 cases per 100 person-years (95% CI: 4.5-5.0). Syphilis diagnosis rates were highest among younger cisgender men who have sex with men and transgender women, Hispanic individuals, people who inject drugs, and those with detectable HIV RNA, rectal infections, and hepatitis C.

Conclusions: We identified PWH who may benefit from more frequent syphilis testing and interventions for syphilis prevention.

Keywords: people living with HIV; syphilis incidence; syphilis testing.

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Conflict of interest statement

Potential conflicts of interest. K. C. reports investigator-initiated grant support from Gilead Sciences and serving on Gilead Sciences Medical Advisory Board, outside the submitted work. J. D. reports consulting fees from National Association of State and Territorial AIDS Directors and payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speaker’s bureaus, manuscript writing, or educational events from Planned Parenthood Federation of America, outside the submitted work. E. C. reports unrelated research grants, funding paid to UC Regents, from Merck Sharp and Dohme and Gilead Science, outside the submitted work. H. M. C. reports funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and ViiV and participation on the NIH Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council, outside the submitted work. All other authors report no potential conflicts. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed.

References

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