Syphilis and associated factors among pregnant women attending antenatal care services at Yaya Gulale District public health facilities, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Syphilis is the prevalent disease worldwide. Its screening is often conducted among pregnant women to prevent mother-to-child transmission. It is significantly rising in Ethiopia, although there is effective treatment. However, the prevalence of syphilis and its associated factors in pregnant women have not been well investigated in this study area. Therefore, this study aimed to assess prevalence of syphilis and associated factors among pregnant women attended antenatal care at Yaya Gulale District health facilities Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia.

Methods:  A facility based cross-sectional study was conducted among 228 pregnant women from September 15 to October 15, 2022 in Yaya Gulale District, North Shewa Zone, Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select the participants. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. The collected data was entered to EpiData version 3.1 and analyzed by SPSS version 26. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize the characteristics of the participants. Variables with P-values< 0.05 were considered statistically significant predictors of the dependent variable.

Results: The prevalence of syphilis was 2.6% 95% CI: (0.9–4.8) among the pregnant women. Married marital status (AOR = 7.9, 95% CI: (3.3–9.1), p = 0.006), having multiple sexual relation history (AOR = 4.8, 95% CI: (1.6–5.6), p = 0.004), and poor knowledge about syphilis (AOR = 3.2, 95% CI (2.4–7.65), p = 0.008) were significantly associated with syphilis infection.

Conclusion: The prevalence of syphilis was considerable in this study area. Interventions targeted married women with multiple sexual partners, and awareness creation to increase knowledge about syphilis are crucial to prevent syphilis infection among pregnant women.