Leprosy and gender in Brazil: trends in an endemic area of the Northeast region, 2001-2014

de Souza, Eliana Amorim, Ferreira, Anderson Fuentes, Boigny, Reagan Nzundu, Alencar, Carlos Henrique, Heukelbach, Jorg, Martins-melo, Francisco Rogerlândio, Barbosa, Jaqueline Caracas, and Ramos, Alberto Novaes (2018) Leprosy and gender in Brazil: trends in an endemic area of the Northeast region, 2001-2014. Revista de Saude Publica, 52. 20.

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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To analyze, stratifield by gender, trends of the new case leprosy detection rates in the general population and in children; of grade 2 disability, and of proportion of multibacillary cases, in the state of Bahia, Brazil from 2001 to 2014.

METHODS: A time series study based on leprosy data from the National Information System for Notifiable Diseases. The time trend analysis included Poisson regression models by infection points (Joinpoint) stratified by gender.

RESULTS: There was a total of 40,054 new leprosy cases with a downward trend of the overall detection rate (Average Annual Percent Change [AAPC = -0.4, 95% CI -2.8-1.9] and a nonsignificant increase in children under 15 years (AAPC = 0.2, 95% CI -3.9-4.5). The proportion of grade 2 disability among new cases increased significantly (AAPC = 4.0, 95% CI 1.3-6.8), as well as the proportion of multibacillary cases (AAPC = 2.2, 95% CI 0.1-4.3). Stratification by gender showed a downward trend of detection rates in females and no significant change in males; in females, there was a more pronounced upward trend of the proportion of multibacillary and grade 2 disability cases.

CONCLUSIONS: Leprosy is still highly endemic in the state of Bahia, with active transmission, late diagnosis, and a probable hidden endemic. There are different gender patterns, indicating the importance of early diagnosis and prompt treatment, specifically in males without neglecting the situation among females.

Item ID: 53431
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1518-8787
Keywords: Leprosy, epidemiology, Gender and Health, Disease Notification, Endemic Diseases, Neglected Diseases, Time Series Studies
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Copyright Information: Copyright: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original author and source are credited.
Date Deposited: 21 Mar 2018 07:36
FoR Codes: 32 BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES > 3202 Clinical sciences > 320211 Infectious diseases @ 50%
42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4299 Other health sciences > 429999 Other health sciences not elsewhere classified @ 50%
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