National Health Survey reveals high percentage of signs and symptoms of leprosy in Brazil

Ciencia e Saude Coletiva

article

Penna, Gerson Oliveira¹  Pontes, Maria Araci de Andrade²  Nobre, Mauricio Lisboa³  Pinto, Luiz Felipe⁴ 

[1] Universidade de Brasília;Centro de Referência Nacional em Dermatologia Sanitária Dona Libânia;Secretaria Estadual de Saúde do Rio Grande do Norte;Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

关键词: Leprosy;    Household survey;    Prevalence;    Brazil;   

DOI  :  10.1590/1413-81232022276.18322021

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Associacao Brasileira de Pos - Graduacao em Saude Coletiva

【 摘 要 】

Leprosy is a debilitating, infectious, systemic or localized dermato-neurological disease caused by Mycobacterium lepra. In Brazil, the magnitude and high disabling power keep the disease as a public health problem. Skin spotting and numbness are pathognomonic signs and symptoms in leprosy. The Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) 2019 National Health Survey (PNS-2019) considered the following question as a proxy to estimate its magnitude in the country. “Do you have a spot with numbness or part of the skin with numbness?”. In Brazil, 1,921,289 adults reported having a patch or part of the skin with numbness, with no regional differences. As for the age group, the older, the higher the prevalence, for example, between 18 to 29 years old (235,445) and 30 to 39 years old (236,485), 0.7% had the condition, between 40 to 59 years old (827,887), 1.5% and among the elderly, 1.8% (621,472). Being able to estimate, in population-based surveys, with statistical representativeness, a reported morbidity such as leprosy is essential to support the formulation of public policies, notably those related to primary health care actions. In this way, the IBGE fulfills its constitutional role of portraying the reality of the Brazilian population and today it is the main external evaluator of the Unified Health System (SUS) and of public policies developed by the federal level.

【 授权许可】

CC BY