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. 2022 Jul 25:55:e00102022.
doi: 10.1590/0037-8682-0010-2022. eCollection 2022.

Burden of syphilis in Brazil and federated units, 1990-2016: estimates from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Juliana Maria Trindade Bezerra  1   2   3 , Pedro Alves Soares Vaz de Castro  4 , Carla Jorge Machado  5 , Mariângela Carneiro  1   6   7
Affiliations

Burden of syphilis in Brazil and federated units, 1990-2016: estimates from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Juliana Maria Trindade Bezerra et al. Rev Soc Bras Med Trop. .

Abstract

Background: Syphilis is a chronic infectious disease that has created challenging situations for humanity for centuries. Transmission can occur sexually or vertically, with great repercussions on populations, particularly among women and children. The present study presents information on the main burden imposed by syphilis generated by the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2019 for Brazil and its 27 federated units.

Methods: We described the metrics of incidence, deaths, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), standardized by age and per 100,000 inhabitants, from 1990 to 2019, and we compared the disease burden between the years 1990 and 2019.

Results: In Brazil, the disease burden increased between 2005 and 2019 for all metrics. Although a higher incidence of syphilis was found among women in 2019, DALYs [YLLs (males: 15.9%; females: 21.8%), YLDs (males: 25.0%; females: 50.0%), and DALYs (males: 16.2%; females: 22.4%)] were higher among men. In 2019, the highest DALY rate per 100,000 inhabitants was observed in individuals aged above 50 years. The State of Maranhão presented the highest values of DALYs {1990: 165.2 [95% uncertainty interval (UI) 96.2-264.4]; 2005: 43.8 [95% UI 30.3-62.4]; 2019: 29.1 [95% UI 19.8-41.1]} per 100,000 inhabitants in the three years analyzed.

Conclusions: The burden of syphilis has increased in recent years. Men presented higher DALYs, although the incidence of the disease was higher in women. Syphilis affects a large number of people across all age groups, causing different degrees of disability and premature death (DALYs).

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1:
FIGURE 1:. Age-standardized rates of metrics for syphilis by gender in Brazil, in the years 1990, 2005, and 2019. GBD Study 2019. (A) DALYs per 100,000 inhabitants. (B) YLLs per 100,000 inhabitants. (C) YLDs per 100,000 inhabitants. (D) Incidence per 100,000 inhabitants. GBD: Global Burden of Disease; YLLs: years of life lost due to premature death; YLDs: years lived with disability; DALYs: disability-adjusted life years.
FIGURE 2:
FIGURE 2:. Age-standardized rates of metrics for syphilis by age range in Brazil. GBD Study 2019. (A) DALYs per 100,000 inhabitants in 1990. (B) DALYs per 100,000 inhabitants in 2005. (C) DALYs per 100,000 inhabitants in 2019. GBD: Global Burden of Disease; YLLs: years of life lost due to premature death; YLDs: years lived with disability; DALYs: disability-adjusted life years. 80 > = 80 years or more. *We plotted the data of these metrics from the GBD Study 2019 in Brazil considering the disease burden in people aged 10 years and above.
FIGURE 3:
FIGURE 3:. Standardized rates per 100,000 inhabitants in Brazilian federated units in 1990 and 2019 and percentages of change calculated for DALYs. (A) Rates for DALYs. (B) Percentage of change calculated for DALYs. GBD Study 2019. GBD: Global Burden of Disease; DALYs: disability-adjusted life years.
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