Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39773703›Full record

ArticleBMC public health2025

Syphilis reactivity among blood donors in Brazil: associated factors and implications for public health monitoring.

Natalia A Braga, Sheila de Oliveira Garcia Mateos, Renata Buccheri, Vivian I Avelino-Silva, Donald E Warden, Cesar de Almeida-Neto, Maisa Ribeiro, Luiz Amorim, Paula Loureiro, Nelson Fraiji and 6 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Blood safety and epidemiological trends of blood-borne infections in Brazil: A retrospective analysis.The Brazilian journal of infectious diseases : an official publication of the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

16 authors.

Natalia A BragaFaculdade de Medicina da, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil. nataliabraga_@outlook.com.
Sheila de Oliveira Garcia MateosFaculdade de Medicina da, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Renata BuccheriVitalant Research Institute, San Francisco, USA.
Vivian I Avelino-SilvaFaculdade de Medicina da, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Donald E WardenWestat, Rockville, USA.
Cesar de Almeida-NetoFaculdade de Medicina da, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Maisa RibeiroFundação Hemominas, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Luiz AmorimFundação Hemorio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Paula LoureiroFundação Hemope, Recife, Brazil.
Nelson FraijiFundação Hospitalar de Hematologia E Hemoterapia Do Amazonas, Manaus, Brazil.
Marcio K OikawaUniversidade Municipal de Sao Caetano Do Sul, Sao Caetano Do Sul, Brazil.
Eduard GrebeVitalant Research Institute, San Francisco, USA.
Mars StoneVitalant Research Institute, San Francisco, USA.
Ester C SabinoFaculdade de Medicina da, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Brian CusterVitalant Research Institute, San Francisco, USA.
NHLBI Recipient Epidemiology and Donor Evaluation Study-IV-Pediatric (REDS-IV-P)

Funding

REDS-IV-P BRAZIL TRANSFUSION SAFETY RESEARCH PROGRAM PHASE 275N92019D00038 · NHLBI · VITALANT · 2019 to 2024
$9.3M
NHLBI NIH HHS 75N92019D00038
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundIncreasing syphilis infection rates are a concerning issue worldwide. Blood donation screening is an opportunity to monitor the burden of asymptomatic infections, providing information on contemporary factors associated with infection and public health insights into transmission.

methodsBlood donations collected at five Brazilian blood centers between January 2020 and February 2022 were screened with treponemal or non-treponemal assays according to local protocols, followed by alternate Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA); samples with reactive or indeterminate results in the alternate ELISA were further tested with the rapid plasma reagin (RPR), and categorized as RPR-positive or RPR-negative. RPR-positive donations were also grouped according to RPR titers (< 1:8 or ≥ 1:8). We report the prevalence of syphilis in first-time donors (FTD) and repeat donors (RD), as well as incidence in RD. Multivariable models were used to assess factors associated with RPR-positive syphilis. Additionally, we explored the relationship between syphilis positivity in FTD and syphilis cases registered by the Brazilian public health surveillance system from 2012 to 2022.

findingsOf 862,146 donations, 10,771 (1.3%) were reactive or indeterminate on screening; 7,541 available samples underwent additional testing. Of those, 5,876 (77.9%) tested positive or indeterminate on the alternate ELISA; 907 (12.0%) were RPR-negative, 2,980 (39.5%) were RPR-positive < 1:8, and 1,989 (26.4%) were RPR-positive with titers ≥ 1:8. The prevalence of syphilis including RPR-positive and RPR-negative cases was 2.5% among FTD and 0.6% among RD. The incidence of syphilis in RD was 90/10

conclusionThe prevalence of syphilis was < 3% among FTD and < 1% among RD. We found wide variability according to donor characteristics, with gender, age, race, and schooling significantly associated with prevalent and incident RPR-positive syphilis in multivariable models. Syphilis occurrence among blood donors can be used to assess disease patterns in low-risk populations.

Indexed as

Blood DonorsSyphilisAdolescentAdultBrazilEnzyme-Linked Immunosorbent AssayFemaleHumansIncidenceMaleMiddle AgedPrevalencePublic Health SurveillanceRisk FactorsYoung AdultBlood donationPublic health surveillanceRisk factorsScreening testsSyphilis

Identifiers

PMID39773703
PMCPMC11705664

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

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.