Visible deformity in childhood leprosy : A 10-year study

Deformity seen in children with leprosy has not often been studied, as the disease itself is less common in children. Deformity, being synonymous with the stigma of leprosy, is a definite social problem in children. In this study we have focused on the burden of deformity in children with leprosy, a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of leprosy and other mycobacterial diseases Vol. 73; no. 4; pp. 243 - 248
Main Authors BIKASH RANJAN KAR, JOB, C. K
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Lawrence, KS Allen Press 01.12.2005
International Leprosy Association
Subjects
Adolescent
Age Distribution
Age of Onset
Bacterial diseases
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child, Preschool
Dermatology
Female
General aspects
Human bacterial diseases
Humans
Infant
Infectious diseases
Leprosy
Leprosy - complications
Leprosy - microbiology
Leprosy - pathology
Lower Extremity - pathology
Male
Medical sciences
Mycobacterium
Peripheral Nerves - pathology
Risk Factors
Skin - microbiology
Tropical bacterial diseases
Upper Extremity - pathology
Human
Infection
Skin disease
Deformation
Dermatology
Bacteriosis
Leprosy
Tropical medicine
Mycobacterial infection
Child
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Deformity seen in children with leprosy has not often been studied, as the disease itself is less common in children. Deformity, being synonymous with the stigma of leprosy, is a definite social problem in children. In this study we have focused on the burden of deformity in children with leprosy, and various factors responsible for the deformities are discussed. We have observed an incidence of 10.5% of Grade II deformities in children with leprosy, which is very high compared to the community rate of 1.4%. Various factors which contributed significantly to the deformities in our study were: increasing age of children, delay in accessing health care, multiple skin lesions, multibacillary disease, smear positivity, multiple nerve involvement, and reaction at the time of presentation to the hospital. Logistic regression analysis showed that children with thickened nerve trunks had 6.1 times higher risk of developing deformities compared to those who did not have nerve enlargement. Children with the above risk factors should be followed up more frequently so as to detect any deformity as early as possible.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0148-916X
1544-581X