Leprosy in the elderly population of Alagoas

• Autor(a) principal: Silva,David Darnis Bezerra da
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Tavares,Clodis Maria, Gomes,Nataly Mayara Cavalcante, Cardoso,Aline Costa, Arcêncio,Ricardo Alexandre, Nogueira,Paula Sacha Frota
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Geriatria e Gerontologia
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1809-98232018000500553
• topic: Leprosy; Epidemiology Descriptive; Elderly

Abstract Objective: to describe the epidemiological profile of elderly persons with leprosy in the state of Alagoas. Method: a descriptive epidemiological study of leprosy cases among the elderly reported to the Disease Notification Information System between 2005 and 2015 was carried out. Results: a total of 896 cases were identified, with a predominance of 60-69 years old (60.5%), who were male (50.4%), had no schooling (34.8%), no source of income (54.1%), multibacillary forms of the disease (67.9%), and a high proportion of grade I (30.3%) and II (11.8%) disability at diagnosis. Hyperendemicity was noted during the survey period, with a mean detection rate of 29.48 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Conclusion: leprosy is a growing disease among the elderly and early detection should be encouraged in this population to prevent the impairment of active aging.