Association between eye diagnosis and positive syphilis test results in a large, urban sexually transmitted infection/primary care clinic population

In 2015, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) released clinical advisories on rising cases of ocular syphilis. We examined the association between eye disease and syphilis infection among primary care and sexually transmitted infection (STI) clinic patients attending an urban lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) health center. We conducted a retrospective medical record review of all patients who underwent syphilis testing at Howard Brown Health between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2015. Confirmed eye diagnosis was based on International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) diagnosis codes for conjunctivitis, uveitis, keratitis, retinitis, and red eye. Demographic information, syphilis treatment, HIV status, and high-risk behaviors were abstracted. Syphilis diagnosis was defined by available laboratory data (enzyme immunoassay [EIA], rapid plasma reagin [RPR] titer, fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption [FTA-Abs], Treponema pallidum Ab). Multivariable logistic regression with robust variance was used to identify independent associations. During the study period, 71,299 syphilis tests were performed on 30,422 patients. There were 2288 (3.2%) positive syphilis tests. Seventy-seven patients had a confirmed eye diagnosis (0.25%). Patients with eye disease had higher probability of at least one positive syphilis test (33%) compared to those without eye disease (8%) ( p