title: Syphilis surveillance. Failure to screen in a university hospital.
abstract: Of 5,954 adult inpatients consecutively discharged from a university hospital during a three-month period, only 8.4% had serologic tests for syphilis performed during hospitalization. The testing rate was 20.1% on patients admitted to a medical teaching service and 1.4% on a surgical teaching service. In patients tested, a positive rapid plasma reagin test result was obtained in 6.2% and the diagnosis was confirmed by further testing, but effective therapy was not always given. On 9 of 30 patient records listed syphilis as a diagnosis on discharge. We conclude that serologic testing for syphilis is routinely omitted in the evaluation of hospitalized patients; even when tests are positive, the results are often ignored.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking; D008499:Medical Records; D013587:Syphilis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013588:Syphilis Serodiagnosis; D014481:United States