Trial reportPloS one2013
Factors associated with serological cure and the serofast state of HIV-negative patients with primary, secondary, latent, and tertiary syphilis.
Trial report in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
44 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- An integrated immunopathological model of syphilis serofast: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Pooled it
- Risk factors of serofast state in patients undergoing syphilis: a meta-analysis of 17 cohort studies.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Pooled it
- 2023 Korean sexually transmitted infections guidelines for non-gonococcal bacterial infection (chlamydia, syphilis, etc.) by the Korean Association of Urogenital Tract Infection and Inflammation.Investigative and clinical urology · 2024Guideline
- Management of Adult Syphilis: Key Questions to Inform the 2021 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Sexually Transmitted Infections Treatment Guidelines.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2022Pooled it
- Sexually Transmitted Infections Treatment Guidelines, 2021.MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports · 2021Guideline
- The prevalence of asymptomatic neurosyphilis among HIV-negative serofast patients in China: A meta-analysis.PloS one · 2020Pooled it
- A systematic review of syphilis serological treatment outcomes in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected persons: rethinking the significance of serological non-responsiveness and the serofast state after therapy.BMC infectious diseases · 2015Pooled it
- Treatment of syphilis: a systematic review.JAMA · 2014Pooled it
- Rate of Decline in Nontreponemal Antibody Titers and Seroreversion After Treatment of Early Syphilis.Sexually transmitted diseases · 2017Trial
- Comparable treatment response rates with benzathine penicillin and doxycycline in early syphilis: evidence from a large German cohort.Infection · 2026Article
- Updates on epidemiology and diagnostic tests of syphilis in South Korea.The Korean journal of internal medicine · 2026Review
- Cytotoxic T-cell deficiency and sustained B-cell activation in serofast syphilis: a prospective observational study.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Observational
- Analysis of influencing factors for syphilis serofast and development and evaluation of a predictive model.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Longitudinal Trend in Hospital-Wide Syphilis Testing and Clinical Characteristics of Syphilis Requiring Treatment.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Comparison of 3 Treatment Regimens for Latent Syphilis of Late or Unknown Duration Using Public Health Surveillance Data.Sexually transmitted diseases · 2025Article
- Serofast state after syphilis treatment: implications and recommendations for clinical practice. Narrative review.Postepy dermatologii i alergologii · 2025Review
- Analysis of Factors Determining Serologic Response to Treatment of Early Syphilis in Adult Men.Infectious disease reports · 2025Article
- Predictors of Serological Cure in Syphilis Patients: A Retrospective Study at a Tertiary Hospital in Bandung, Indonesia.Infection and drug resistance · 2025Article
- Article
- Syphilis in Dermatology: Recognition and Management.American journal of clinical dermatology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSome syphilis patients remain in a serologically active state after the recommended therapy. We currently know too little about the characteristics of this serological response.
methodsWe conducted a cohort study using the clinical database from Zhongshan Hospital, Medical College of Xiamen. In total, 1,327 HIV-negative patients with primary, secondary, latent, and tertiary syphilis were enrolled. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were utilised to identify factors associated with a serological cure and serofast state in syphilis patients one year after therapy. Chi-square tests were used to determine the differences in the serological cure rate across different therapy time points.
resultsOne year after the recommended therapy, 870 patients achieved a serological cure, and 457 patients (34.4%) remained in the serofast state. The serological cure rate increased only within the first 6 months. The bivariate analysis indicated that male or younger patients had a higher likelihood of a serological cure than female or older patients. Having a baseline titre ≤ 1∶2 or ≥ 1∶64 was associated with an increased likelihood of a serological cure. The serological cure rate decreased for the different disease stages in the order of primary, secondary, latent, and tertiary syphilis. A distinction should be drawn between early and late syphilis. The multivariate analysis indicated that a serological cure was significantly associated with the disease phase, gender, age, and baseline rapid plasma reagin (RPR) titre.
conclusionsThe serofast state is common in clinical work. After one year of the recommended therapy, quite a few syphilis patients remained RPR positive. The primary endpoint of the study indicated that disease phase, gender, age and baseline RPR titre were crucial factors associated with a serological cure.
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