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Epidemiology and assessment of the physical disabilities and psychosocial disorders in new leprosy patients admitted to a referral hospital in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

2017; British Leprosy Relief Association; Volume: 88; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.47276/lr.88.2.244

2162-8807

Silvia Helena Lyon de Moura, Maria Aparecida F. Grossi, Linda Lehman, Stephanie P. Salgado, Carolina A. Almeida, Dagmar T. Lyon, Sandra Lyon, Manoel Otávio da Costa Rocha,

Health, Nursing, Elderly Care

Objective: Despite intensive campaigns initiated in the 1990s, leprosy remains endemic in Brazil. It is essential that simple and efficient methods of assessing the extent of disease-related disabilities be established so that appropriate treatment and rehabilitation can be provided to patients in order to break the disease transmission chain. Method: The socioeconomic, clinical, and physical/psychosocial disabilities of 56 new leprosy patients admitted to a referral hospital in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, were assessed using available rating scale tools namely, WHO Impairment Grade (IG), Eye-Hand-Foot (EHF) Impairment Sum, Green Pastures Activity Scale (GPAS), Screening of Activity Limitation and Safety Awareness (SALSA), Participation, Jacoby stigma and Hamilton depression scales. Results: Approximately 60% of the patients exhibited Grade 1 or 2 physical disabilities, 46% presented activity limitations and lacked safety awareness, around 30% presented difficulties in social interaction and perceived leprosy-related stigma and about 60% exhibited some degree of depression. Conclusions: Continuation of intensive educational campaigns in schools, administration of proper medical and psychological care to patients with disfigurement/deformities and reevaluation of the role of specialised referral hospitals will be required if leprosy is to be removed from the list of public health diseases in Brazil.