Prevalence of syphilitic uveitis has increased in the United States

American doctors have recorded a threefold increase in the incidence of syphilitic uveitis in the United States from 2010 to 2019. During this time, they recorded a total of 5,581 hospitalizations associated with this diagnosis. Besides, how reported V JAMA Ophthalmologysyphilitic uveitis disproportionately affected men, African Americans, and people with the lowest median income.

Syphilis is caused by Treponema pallidum – Treponema pale. It enters into complex immunological reactions with the human body and causes specific chronic inflammation in different organs. By data According to the World Health Organization, syphilis affected 7.1 million adults aged 15 to 49 in 2020. However, most cases of infection are asymptomatic, which is why the true number of infections may be much higher. In different parts of the world fix increase in the number of diseases, including in Russia.

Syphilitic uveitis is one of the most common ocular manifestations of syphilis (neurosyphilis). It is rare but can cause permanent vision loss. Previously observed an increase in the number of cases of this disease, however, recent studies were carried out between 1998 and 2009, and their results do not reflect current incidence trends.

A team of scientists led by Tahreem Mir from Vanderbilt University examined the incidence and hospitalization rates associated with syphilitic uveitis in the United States. To do this, they analyzed data from 444,674 inpatients with syphilis, uveitis and syphilitic uveitis, among whom 5,581 cases of syphilitic uveitis were recorded. The average age of patients with syphilitic uveitis was 45 years, disproportionately affecting younger people in the fourth and fifth decades of life. A total of 4,395 patients (78.9 percent) were men.

The national prevalence of hospitalizations associated with syphilitic uveitis during the study period was 0.15 per 100,000 population. The incidence rate was lowest in 2011 (0.08 per 100,000 population) and increased every year, reaching its highest incidence rate in 2019 at 0.23 per 100,000 population. The annual incidence of syphilis-related hospitalizations was 7.41 per 100,000 population and has gradually decreased over the years.

On average, the incidence of syphilitic uveitis was four times higher in men (0.25 per 100,000 population) compared to women (0.06 per 100,000 population). The incidence was highest among African Americans (0.4 per 100,000 population) and lowest among whites (0.11 per 100,000 population). The disease also disproportionately affected people with the lowest income levels. A total of 1,293 patients (23.2 percent) with syphilitic uveitis had concomitant severe HIV infection.

Although a plan to eliminate syphilis was introduced in the United States in 1999, implementation has so far been unsuccessful. However, the discovered patterns may be relevant for other countries in identifying risk groups for developing syphilitic uveitis, as well as predicting morbidity.

By the way, we recently reported that the oldest case of syphilis was discovered in South America in a child who lived at least 9,400 years ago.