Prevalência de testes VDRL reagentes em usuários do laboratório municipal de Cuité-PB.

Abstract

Considered as a public health problem worldwide, syphilis is a Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) caused by the Gram-negative bacterium Treponema pallidum, transmitted sexually, through blood and/or vertically. Often the infection can be asymptomatic, making it difficult to control the chain of transmission, or symptomatic, presented in different ways, depending on its time of progression. It is considered a systemic, chronic, curable and exclusive human infection. It has the availability of treatment, and Penicillin G benzantine is used as the first choice drug. In addition, it is estimated that syphilis reaches about 12 million infected annually. In 2020 in Brazil, there was a detection rate of 54.5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, and it was also detected that the rate of syphilis in pregnant women was 21.6/1,000 live births and the incidence rate of congenital syphilis, of 7.7/1,000 live births, with a mortality rate from congenital syphilis of 6.5/100,000 live births. Given these premises, the study aimed to know the profile and prevalence of reagent VDRL tests in users of the municipal laboratory in the city of Cuité - PB. This is a retrospective observational study with a quantitative approach in which the results of non-treponemal tests of the VDRL type were analyzed, taking into account the variables: sex, age group and area of residence of users registered in LabPlus, a program used by the municipal laboratory of Cuité for the release of reports, between the period from July 2021 to February 2022. In the statistical analysis, simple percentage and the Chi-Square Test (χ2) were used to verify the association between the variables, with p< 0.05, statistically significant, as a criterion for rejecting null hypotheses. The prevalence of VDRL tests performed at the Municipal laboratory of Cuité that were found to be reagent was 2.92%, of the 473 tests referring to the established period. Female participants performed 76.87% of the tests, with an expressive majority, both in tests and in positivity, presenting 92.86% of the reagent tests. Among the 369 tests performed by women, 46 were for pregnant women, with two of the reagent tests belonging to one of them. The age group with the highest rate of achievement and reactive results was patients between 20 and 29 years old (40.47% and 57.14%, respectively). According to the study, 69.16% of the tests were performed by patients in the urban area, however, 42.86% of the reagent tests were performed by patients in the rural area, even with fewer tests performed. With these results, there is a need for greater attention to young people and the male public so that there is greater health education aimed at this group, helping to control the syphilis transmission chain.