Inequality of gender, age and disabilities due to leprosy and trends in a hyperendemic metropolis: Evidence from an eleven-year time series study in Central-West Brazil

José Francisco Martoreli Júnior, Antônio Carlos Vieira Ramos, Josilene Dalia Alves, Juliane de Almeida Crispim, Luana Seles Alves, Thaís Zamboni Berra, Tatiana Pestana Barbosa, Fernanda Bruzadelli Paulino da Costa, Yan Mathias Alves, Márcio Souza dos Santos, Dulce Gomes, Mellina Yamamura, Ione Carvalho Pinto, Miguel Angel Fuentealba-Torres, Carla Nunes, Flavia Meneguetti Pieri, Marcos Augusto Moraes Arcoverde, Felipe Lima dos Santos and Ricardo Alexandre Arcêncio

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2021, vol. 15, issue 11, 1-16

Abstract: The present study aimed to investigate the epidemiological situation of leprosy (Hansen’s Disease), in a hyperendemic metropolis in the Central-West region of Brazil. We studied trends over eleven years, both in the detection of the disease and in disabilities, analyzing disparities and/or differences regarding gender and age. This is an ecological time series study conducted in Cuiabá, capital of the state of Mato Grosso. The population consisted of patients diagnosed with leprosy between the years 2008 and 2018. The time series of leprosy cases was used, stratifying it according to gender (male and female), disability grade (G0D, G1D, G2D, and not evaluated) and age. The calendar adjustment technique was applied. For modeling the trends, the Seasonal-Trend decomposition procedure based on Loess (STL) was used. We identified 9.739 diagnosed cases, in which 58.37% were male and 87.55% aged between 15 and 59 years. Regarding detection according to gender, there was a decrease among women and an increase in men. The study shows an increasing trend in disabilities in both genders, which may be related to the delay in diagnosis. There was also an increasing number of cases that were not assessed for disability at the time of diagnosis, which denotes the quality of the services.Author summary: In the 2019 report, Brazil had a detection rate of 13.23 per 100.000 inhabitants far from the goal of less than 1 leprosy (Hansen’s Disease) case per 10,000 inhabitants describe by the World Health Organization. The present study aimed to investigate the epidemiological situation of leprosy and its trend between 2008 and 2018 in a hyperendemic metropolis in the Central-West region of Brazil. A total of 9.739 leprosy cases were reported between 2008 and 2018. The majority of cases were male (58.37%), with a predominant age of 15 to 59 years (87.55%). The predominant level of education was incomplete elementary school (43.96%). The disability grade at diagnosis showed that 40.19% had G0D and for the G2D was 8,.06%.There was a predominance in operational classification of multibacillary cases (72.85%). While detection rate trends in females and the majority of the age groups are decreasing, increases are seen in the detection of male patients and patients already suffering from disabilities. Although declining trends were presented, the metropolis is still not close to elimination showing the need prioritize leprosy actions and to improve care for this disease.

Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pntd00:0009941

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009941

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