ArticleBMC infectious diseases2023
Sero-prevalence of syphilis infection among people living with HIV in Sierra Leone: a cross-sectional nationwide hospital-based study.
Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
7 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- High screening coverage and positivity rates of HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B among pregnant women accessing antenatal care in Sierra Leone.Public health action · 2026Article
- Clinical Characteristics and Risk Factors for Syphilis Among People Living With Human Immunodeficiency Virus: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study in Korea.Journal of Korean medical science · 2026Article
- Article
- Article
- Community and Hospital HIV Follow-Up Clinics Achieve Similar Lumbar Puncture and Syphilis Treatment Success in Patients with HIV-Syphilis Coinfection: Saskatoon, SK, Canada.Journal of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada = Journal officiel de l'Association pour la microbiologie medicale et l'infectiologie Canada · 2025Article
- Case Report: Syphilitic proximal coronary stenosis with discordant serology: diagnostic validation by optical coherence tomography.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Provincial distribution and factors associated with self-reported sexually transmitted infections and their symptoms among women in Sierra Leone.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 7 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundGlobally, there were an estimated 7.1 million new syphilis infections in 2020, with more than 30% of these new infections reported in African countries such as Sierra Leone. Despite this, there is no HIV-specific syphilis screening program in Sierra Leone. Thus, data are needed to inform public health practice. In this study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of syphilis seropositivity and factors associated with syphilis seropositivity among people living with HIV (PLHIV).
methodsA cross-sectional study was conducted at 10 health facilities in Sierra Leone, among adults with HIV, aged 18 years or older, from September 2022 to January 2023. Parameters of interest were collected including age, sex, marriage, antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimen, HIV viral load, duration of ART treatment, and hospital level of care. The syphilis antibody was detected by a rapid test based on immunochromatography assay. Data were analyzed using R-software version 4.2.3 (R Core Team, Vienna, Austria). Pearson's χ
resultsOf the 3082 PLHIV individuals in our study, 2294 (74.4%) were female and 2867 (93.0%) were receiving ART. With a median age of 36 years, 211 (6.8%, 95% CI 6.0-7.7) were positive for syphilis. The prevalence of syphilis was highest in people aged 60 years and over (21.1%, 95%CI 14.7-29.2), followed by people aged 50-60 years (15.5%, 95%CI 11.9-19.9) and in the widowed population (11.9%, 95%CI 8.9-15.8). There were no differences in syphilis seropositivity between gender, ART status, ART regimen, duration of ART, HIV viral load and hospital level of care. Older age (50-60 years: adjusted OR 3.49, 95%CI 2.09-5.85 P < 0.001; 60-100 years: adjusted OR 4.28, 95%CI 2.21-8.17, P < 0.001) was an independent predictor of seropositive syphilis.
conclusionsWe observed a high prevalence of syphilis among PLHIV. Older people and widowed population have higher syphilis seropositivity. Older age was an independent predictor of syphilis positivity. Therefore, we call for the integration of syphilis screening, treatment and prevention in HIV services.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.