Clinical-epidemiological context of leprosy cases notified in Governador Valadares city, Minas Gerais - Brazil, between 2015 and 2019

• Autor(a) principal: Cardoso, Daniel Madeira
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Gomides, Thalisson Artur Ribeiro
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Saúde (Santa Maria)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufsm.br/revistasaude/article/view/44459
• topic: Leprosy; Epidemiology; Detection; Clinical medicine.; Hanseníase; Epidemiologia; Detecção; Clínica médica.

The objective is to characterize the clinical-epidemiological context of leprosy cases notified in Governador Valadares city between 2015 and 2019. Methodology: This is an ecological study that includes sociodemographic variables (gender, age and education) and clinical variables (clinical form, operational classification, number of injuries, presence of disability and type of exit). Results: Among the 387 reported cases, 52.1% were male, 26.6% were aged ≥65 years and 22.9% had incomplete elementary school from the 1st to the 4th grade. Regarding clinical variables, 42.8% were classified as dimorphic and 56.3% as multibacillary. In addition, it was possible to identify that the majority had 5 or more injuries (43.4%) and zero disability level (71.3%). There were correlations between being male and: virchowian form (*p=0.0001), multibacillary (*p=0.0004), 5 or more injuries (*p=0.0008) and disability grade 2 (*p=0.002). On the other hand, there were correlations between being female and tuberculoid form (*p=0.001) and only 1 injure (*p=0.002). It is important to note that the cure rates remained above 90%. Final considerations: Leprosy is a disease with an impact on Governador Valadares city, what makes early diagnosis and prevention through health education measures essential.