title: Syphilis screening in out-of-hospital care.
abstract: To estimate the rates of syphilis infection in inner-city patients managed by prehospital providers, a convenience sampling of prehospital patients who had intravenous lines initiated was screened for syphilis over a nine-month study period from February 1992 through October 1992. In a university-affiliated inner-city emergency department served by a city ambulance company, patients 18 years of age or older transported via ambulance who had had intravenous lines initiated at the scene or en route had a Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) and microhemagglutination-Treponema pallidum (MHA-TP) drawn and performed by the state laboratory as a routine serological test. If the results were reactive with no previous history of syphilis recorded in the state registry, the state health department and/or one of the authors of this study contacted the patient for follow-up treatment. Age, race, sex, and diagnostic category (medical, surgical/obstetric, or neuropsychiatric) were recorded. Results were checked with the state syphilis registry. Latent syphilis was defined as a reactive VDRL and MHA-TP with no prior history of infection or record of infection in the state syphilis registry. Chi-squared test was used in statistical analysis for comparisons among ages, races, and sexes, with P > .05 considered significant. Three hundred two subjects 18 years of age and older consenting to a screening VDRL and MHA-TP had serum drawn. Two hundred seventy-nine patients were enrolled in the study after 23 patients were excluded because of improper data collection or insufficient serum collection. There were 174 men (63%) and 105 women (37%), with 73 white (26%) and 199 African-Americans (71%).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Louisiana State University, New Orleans, USA.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marvez-Valls
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Ernst
authors.forename: W D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D004634:Emergency Medical Technicians; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008145:Louisiana / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D013587:Syphilis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013588:Syphilis Serodiagnosis / Q000379:methods*; D013592:Syphilis, Latent / Q000175:diagnosis; D014505:Urban Population