Association between the incidence rates for gestational syphilis and congenital syphilis and prenatal care coverage in the State of Bahia, Brazil

This study aimed to analyze the association between incidence rates for gestational and congenital syphilis and coverage of prenatal care from 2007 to 2017 in the State of Bahia, Brazil. This was an ecological and longitudinal study in which the units of analysis were the municipalities (counties) of the State of Bahia. Secondary data were used, obtained from the databases of the Health Information Systems. Analysis of the association between the incidence rates and prenatal coverage was performed with panel datal, using the fixed model with negative binomial response, controlled for socioeconomic, demographic, and temporal variables. In the multivariate analyses, prenatal coverage showed a statistically significant positive association with gestational syphilis incidence rate, but no association was found with congenital syphilis the incidence rate. Using municipalities with prenatal coverage