article
Knowledge of the patients regarding leprosy and adherence to treatment
Fecha
2012Registro en:
1413-8670
Autor
Lira, Karlisson Bezerra
Leite, João Jaime Giffoni
Maia, Débora Castelo Branco de Souza Collares
Freitas, Rafael de Mesquita Ferreira
Feijão, Alexsandra Rodrigues
Resumen
Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. It is known for its
great disfiguring capacity and is considered an extremely serious disease to public health
worldwide. The state of Ceará ranks 13th in number of cases of leprosy in Brazil, and fourth
in Northeastern region, with an average of 2,149 new cases diagnosed every year. This study
aimed to evaluate the knowledge of leprosy patients regarding treatment, and to assess
the level of treatment adherence and its possible barriers. The study was conducted in
the reference center for dermatology, from September 2010 to October 2010, in Fortaleza,
Ceará. The study data were collected by means of a structured interview, along with the
Morisky-Green test, in order to assess treatment adherence and barriers to adherence. A
total of 70 patients were interviewed, out of whom 66 were new cases. The majority of
patients were between 42 and 50 years old, and 37 (52.9%) were male. Most patients were
clinically classified as presentingmultibacillary leprosy (80%), and 78.6% of them were from
Fortaleza, Brazil. The Morisky-Green test indicated that 62.9% of patients presented a low
level of adherence (p < 0.005), despite claiming to aware of the disease risks. However, it was
observed that 57.1% of the patients had no difficulty adhering to treatment, while 38.6%
reported little difficulty. This study shows that despite the patients claiming to be familiar
with leprosy and its treatment, the Morisky-Green test clearly demonstrated that they actually
were not aware of the principles of therapy, which is evidenced by the low degree of
treatment adherence