Fatores associados ao diagnóstico tardio da hanseníase em 74 municípios endêmicos do estado do Tocantins

Abstract

Late diagnosis of leprosy contributes to maintenance of high transmission levels in endemic areas. We conducted a population-based cross-sectional in 74 municipalities of a leprosy-endemic cluster in Tocantins state (North Brazil). Of the 1.635 new cases reported from 2006 to 2008, 936 (57.2%) were included in the study. Collection of data was performed through face-to-face structured questionnaires. In total, 53% were classified as paucibacillary and 42% as multibacillary leprosy; in 5% this information was not available. Two hundred and ninety (31%) had indeterminate clinical form, 156 (16,7%) tuberculoid, 239 (25,5%) borderline, and 91 (9,7%) lepromatous, with 160 (17,1%) cases with unknonwn clinical presentation at diagnosis. Degree of disability was 0 in 470 cases (50,3%), 1 in 146 (15,6%) and 2 in 28 (3%). We used two indicators for late diagnosis of leprosy: degree of disability 2 at the moment of diagnosis (outcome I); and clinical forms considered late stage disease (tuberculoid/borderline/lepromatous) (outcome II). In bivariate analysis, delayed diagnosis was associated with: male gender (OR=2,46; 95% IC: 1,07-5,67), illiteracy (OR=2,52; 95% CI: 1,17-5,45), multibacillary disease (OR=11,38; 95% CI: 3,40-38.09), difficult access to health facility (OR=3,06; 95% CI: 1,41-6,65) [outcome I]; and illiteracy (OR=1,82; 95% CI: 1,26-2,62), 1 or 2 persons per household (OR=1,60; 95% CI: 1,07-2,37), passage through more than one health facility before diagnosis (OR=2,06; 95% CI: 1,32-3,22), use of other treatments before multidrug therapy (OR=2,78; 95% CI: 1,92-4,02) and no believe in cure (OR=2,74; 95% CI: 1,25-6,01) [outcome II]. In multivariable logistic regression analysis, the following variables were included in the final model: male gender (OR=1.52; 95% CI: 0,61-3,78), illiteracy (OR=1,97; 95% CI: 0,81-4,82), difficult access to health facility (OR=1,99; 95% CI: 0,78-5,16) [outcome I]; and illiteracy (OR=1,10; 95% CI: 0,55-2,21), 1 or 2 persons per household (OR=1,11; 95% CI: 0,56-2,20), passage through more than one health facility before diagnosis (OR=1,09; 95% CI: 0,54-2,20), use of other treatments before multidrug therapy (OR=1,56; 95% CI: 0,88-2,77) and no believe in cure (OR=1,12; 95% CI: 0,35-3,56) [outcome II]. Our findings allow the identification of vulnerable groups to further reduce late diagnosis of leprosy.