Socio-demographic characterization and clinical profile of patients diagnosed with neurosyphilis in a population of Bogotá, Colombia

Abstract

INTRODUCTION:

Neurosyphilis is associated with a series of signs and symptoms that may appear 10 to 30 years after the first infection; it is more frequent in patients with HIV, homosexual behavior and male adults. It is a treatable disease, whose incidence comes in a noticeable descent after the advent of easily accessible antibiotic therapy, which makes it a public health problem worldwide.

OBJECTIVE:

To determine the prevalence, sociodemographic, clinical and paraclinical variables of patients diagnosed with Neurosyphilis treated in the Kennedy West Health Services Unit (USSOK) between 2014-2018

PATIENTS AND METHODS:

An observational, cross-sectional, retrospective, observational study was carried out in which patients diagnosed with Neurosyphilis who received management at the USS West Kennedy during 2014-2018 were evaluated. They were older than 18 years, with a diagnosis of Neurosyphilis. Cerebrospinal fluid study, non-treponemal tests where VDRL was used and treponemal tests using FTA-Abs

RESULTS:

55 cases of neurosyphilis were diagnosed during the period studied. Taking into account the total number of patients treated (8244), the calculated prevalence corresponded to 0.66 %

CONCLUSIONS:

The prevalence of Neurosyphilis in our environment (0.6 %) is higher than that reported in high income populations (0.4 %). The sociodemographic profile of patients diagnosed with neurosyphilis from a low-income population is characterized by: adults in the sixth decade of life, male and immunocompetent.