title: Socio-demographic profile of leprosy patients in two districts of western Uttar Pradesh.
abstract: Despite achieving the goal of national elimination of leprosy, it remains a serious public health problem in the high prevalence states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa. A significant percentage of newly detected cases are Multibacillary. It underscores the importance of developing a more effective strategy to combat the disease in high prevalence pockets of the country. A glance into sociodemographic profile of the leprosy patients of one the high prevalence states might help in understanding the current ground situation better. A questionnaire based study was conducted at health care center of two districts of Uttar Pradesh (Rampur and Moradabad). Data on demographic profile of leprosy patients attending these centers were collected. The leprosy patients were more frequently males (63.8%). The duration of time before presentation was significantly longer for semiskilled workers (Kuppuswami Scale classification), p = 0.029. Patients with multibacillary disease were younger (mean age 31.04 yrs) as compared to paucibacillary leprosy (mean age 38.7yrs), p value = 0.041. These observations suggests that a specific population based approach is required to detect new cases early. Certain groups of the population might benefit from active surveillance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi.
authors.forename: Agrawal
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kireet
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sethi
authors.forename: Agrawal
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kamal
authors.forename: A T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Kannan
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Madhu
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nair
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007918:Leprosy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009166:Mycobacterium leprae; D009790:Occupations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors