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Poster Session I: Congenital Syphilis & Syphilis in Pregnancy

(P16) RACIAL/ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN POTENTIAL CONGENITAL SYPHILIS CASES AVERTED, UNITED STATES, 2018-2022

Tuesday, September 17, 2024
4:15 PM - 5:15 PM EST
Background:
Congenital syphilis (CS) rates have risen sharply in the United States in recent years, with growing racial/ethnic disparities. To inform tailored CS prevention activities, we describe the percentage of potential CS cases averted, stratified by race/ethnicity.

Methods:
We analyzed syphilis case notification data reported through the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System during 2018-2022 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. We estimated the annual percentage of CS cases potentially averted, stratified by race/ethnicity, by subtracting the number of CS cases from the number of pregnant women with syphilis (all stages), and dividing the absolute difference by the number of pregnant women with syphilis. We report the median and interquartile range (IQR) of annual percentage of cases averted.

Results:
During 2018-2022, there were 12,044 CS cases and 32,255 syphilis cases among pregnant women. Overall, 63% of potential CS cases were averted (annual median percentage averted: 62%; IQR: 62-64%). For the three race groups accounting for 88% of all CS cases, the median annual percentage of cases averted was similar and generally steady across years: non-Hispanic White (median: 61%, IQR: 59-65%), non-Hispanic Black (median: 64% IQR: 63-65%), and Hispanic women (median: 62%, IQR: 61-62%).  The median percentage of cases averted among non-Hispanic Asian (median: 73%, IQR: 68-81%) and non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (median: 66%, IQR 49-72%) women were higher but variable over time, in part due to small case counts. The median percentage of cases averted among non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native women was lowest (median: 54%, IQR: 46-60%) but also variable and appeared to decrease over time.

Conclusion:
Differences in percentage of cases averted by race/ethnicity suggests there may be differential access to prevention interventions during pregnancy, including timely treatment. Understanding context-specific barriers to prevention, care, and treatment is important for tailoring interventions that reach pregnant persons who may be at elevated risk of CS.