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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 < 45% as the reference group, the gestational syphilis incidence rate increased by 22% and 25%, respectively, in municipalities with prenatal coverage of 45%-64.9% (RR = 1.22; 95%CI: 1.11-1.33) and ≥ 65% (RR = 1.25; 95%CI: 1.10-1.43). The findings indicate that although the expansion of prenatal coverage in municipalities in Bahia has helped improve the detection of gestational syphilis, it did not impact the congenital syphilis incidence rate. Prenatal care as provided suffers limitations that should be the target of interventions to prevent and block vertical syphilis transmission.

Objective: To describe the completeness and characteristics of reported gestational syphilis and congenital syphilis cases in the state of Bahia, Brazil, between 2007 and 2017., Methods: This was an ecological study using data retrieved from the Notifiable Health Conditions Information System (SINAN). Incidence rates at the macro-regional and state levels and percentage completeness were calculated., Results: 15,050 gestational syphilis cases and 7,812 congenital syphilis cases were identified. The incidence rate varied from 1.3 to 15.1 cases in pregnant women/1,000 live births and from 0.5 to 6.7 cases in infants under 1 year old/1,000 live births. Completeness of 'clinical classification' of gestational syphilis varied from 58.2% to 67.2% in the periods studied., Conclusion: The study showed an increase in incidence rates, flaws in report form completion and the need to implement routine information quality evaluation.