title: Retreatment in leprosy: a case-control study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess risk factors for retreatment of leprosy patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A case-control study with patients from two reference care units in Recife, northeastern Brazil, in 2003. The case group included retreated patients (N=155) and the control group comprised those patients who were not retreated (N=155) matched by year of diagnosis and health care unit. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to test the associations and odds ratios and related 95% confidence intervals were estimated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The following factors were found to be significantly associated (p<0.05) with retreatment: occurrence of adverse immunological reactions after treatment completion (OR=2.3; 95% CI=1.18;4.83), final bacterial index > or = 1 (OR=6.43; 95% CI=1.67;24.74), therapeutic regimen consisting of sulfone monotherapy (OR=10; 95% CI=0.01;0.78) and reports of household contacts (OR=2.2; 95% CI=0.24;0.85).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study findings reinforce that the use of dapsone monotherapy should be discontinued, and highlight the need for epidemiological monitoring of specific groups of leprosy patients after treatment completion through periodical clinical and laboratory evaluation. Further studies to explore the association between final bacterial index and retreatment are strongly recommended.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Tropical, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, PE, Brasil.
authors.forename: Ricardo Arraes Alencar
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Ximenes
authors.forename: Maria Eugênia Novinsk
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Gallo
authors.forename: Maria de Fátima de Medeiros
authors.initials: Mde F
authors.lastname: Brito
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007917:Leprostatic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D007918:Leprosy / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019233:Retreatment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D007917:Leprostatic Agents