Caracterização clínica epidemiológica dos pacientes com hanseníase acometidos por incapacidade física no nordeste brasileiro.

Abstract

Leprosy is a chronic, granulomatous infectious disease that affects the skin and peripheral nerves with a prolonged incubation period caused by Mycobacterium leprae. The disease, when undiagnosed and properly treated, eventually evolves into physical disabilities and deformities, leading to decreased work capacity, limiting social life and psychological problems. Objective: To describe the demographic and clinical epidemiological characteristics of the patients affected by physical disabilities at the time of diagnosis in the Brazilian northeast. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive and quantitative study where all leprosy cases diagnosed and reported at SINAN were analyzed in the period from 2010 to 2015, which presented physical incapacity at the time of diagnosis. Results: During the period considered for the study, from 2010 to 2015, 84,030 new cases of leprosy were reported, among those with a disability degree, 30.1% had a disability grade 2. It was possible to observe an improvement in absolute numbers of the endemic disease, with 15,066 cases registered in 2010, and 13,041 in 2015, and a decrease in physical disability was also observed in the diagnosis. Among the new cases diagnosed with disability, male (62.1%), pardos and blacks (79.3%), aged over 65 (22.4%), (79.8%), educational level (60.0%), dimorphic form (50.8%) and Virchowian (29.0%), multibacillary operational classification (82.8%), and mode of detection by medical referral (52.7%). Conclusion: The predominance of the disease among the most socially vulnerable people is observed: blacks, low schoolchildren, the elderly, which reaffirms the classification of leprosy as neglected and associated with poverty. Knowing the epidemiological profile of patients with disabilities in the diagnosis of leprosy is of paramount importance, since it allows greater surveillance in front of the groups. The early diagnosis of cases and the facilitation of access to treatment for all patients has been shown to be the best way to control the evolution of the disease. For this purpose professional training is indispensable, improving the organization of the surveillance work process in the territories of Cheers.