Socio-demographic and Clinical Profile of Leprosy and Outcome of New Cases between 2012 and 2022: A Study in Brazil

Aims: This study aims to determine the sociodemographic and clinical profile of new leprosy cases in Brazil between 2012 and 2022.

Study Design: Analysis of the sociodemographic and clinical profile of leprosy in the regions of Brazil and the evolution of new cases between 2012 and 2022.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in Brazil from 2012 to 2022, using real-world data from epidemiological surveillance.

Methodology: This is an ecological, quantitative, analytical and cross-sectional study. Ecological study research compares the occurrence of the disease/health-related condition and the exposure of interest among aggregates of individuals (populations of countries, regions or municipalities, for example) in order to verify the possible existence of an association between them.

Results: The heterogeneity of new cases of the disease was observed, with significant variations between the regions investigated. There was a predominance in all regions of multibacillary cases in men (44.12%), aged between 20 and 59 years (65.08%), brown individuals, the latter, however, with a higher incidence in the North and Northeast regions. There was a predominance of grade zero disability (57%), although there were significant figures for grades I (23.61%) and II (7.55%) between the regions. With regard to the type of outcome, in all regions there were significant figures for cure (73.46%). The rates of death and misdiagnosis were relatively low, but there was a high dropout rate, especially for the multibacillary form (80.78%).

Conclusion: The low level of schooling was shown to be a factor related to the different proportions of operational forms of leprosy cases between the five regions, especially the poorest and those with the highest incidence.