ArticleSexually transmitted diseases2019
Performance of the Syphilis Health Check in Clinic and Laboratory-Based Settings.
Article in Sexually transmitted diseases, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Clinical Test Performance of a Rapid Point-of-Care Syphilis Treponemal Antibody Test: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2020Pooled it
- Utilization and Performance of a Rapid Treponemal Antibody Test for Diagnosis of Syphilis in a High-Risk Population at an Urban County Hospital.Sexually transmitted diseases · 2026Article
- Advances in Syphilis Diagnostics to Address the 21st-Century Epidemic.Clinical chemistry · 2025Review
- The Role of Jail Testing in the Public Health Response to Syphilis in King County, Washington.Sexually transmitted diseases · 2025Article
- CDC Laboratory Recommendations for Syphilis Testing, United States, 2024.MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports · 2024Article
- Evaluation of rapid diagnostic test kits for detection of Treponema pallidum antibody.PloS one · 2024Article
- Laboratory evaluation of two point-of-care test kits for the identification of infectious syphilis.Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada · 2022Article
- At-Home Specimen Self-Collection and Self-Testing for Sexually Transmitted Infection Screening Demand Accelerated by the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Review of Laboratory Implementation Issues.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn this study, we evaluate the performance of the Syphilis Health Check (SHC) in clinical and laboratory settings using fingerstick whole blood and serum.
methodsFingerstick whole blood and serum specimens from adult patients (n = 562) without prior syphilis history presenting at 2 county health department STD clinics in North Carolina were tested. Fingerstick specimens were tested with the SHC in clinic, and serum specimens were tested at the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health with: (1) qualitative rapid plasma reagin, (2) treponemal EIA, and (3) SHC. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated with 95% confidence intervals.
resultsThe fingerstick whole blood had a sensitivity of 100% (7 of 7) and specificity of 95.7% (531 of 555), compared with consensus reference testing (CRT) (rapid plasma reagin and EIA reactive), but a sensitivity of 50% (8 of 16), and specificity of 95.9% (523 of 546), when compared with the treponemal EIA. Both laboratory-based SHC on serum and whole-blood SHC performed similarly, compared with CRT, and the treponemal EIA alone. Twenty-four specimens SHC reactive on whole blood were nonreactive by CRT. In 8 of these 24 cases, STD clinic staff reported difficulty reading the test line for the SHC. Of the fingerstick whole-blood SHC reactive specimens, only 14 of 31 were also serum SHC reactive.
conclusionsThe SHC on whole blood appears to be sensitive at detecting patients likely to have syphilis and could be an option for testing among high-risk populations. However, given challenges in interpreting SHC test results, adequate training of persons performing testing and ongoing quality assurance measures are key.
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