A retrospective study of profile of leprosy patients in a District Hospital in North India

Introduction: There is a high prevalence of leprosy in certain areas of our country. The main problem with leprosy is the prevalence of disability in untreated patients. Aims: To know the clinical profile of leprosy patients and to find out the risk factors for disabilities. Methods: A retrospective study of 10 years was conducted from April 2003 to March 2014 was conduced. Results: There were 137 MB (75.6%) and 44 PB (24.4%) cases. There were 35 (19.33%) MB patients with disability and 5 (2.76%) PB patients with disability. There were 5 cases (2.7%) with childhood leprosy. The percentage of defaulters was 9 (4.97%). The Patients were grade II disability were 19.4% and patients with grade I disability were 2.8%. Regarding the nerve involvement in leprosy, ulnar nerve was most commonly involved in 45 (24.86%) patients, lateral popliteal nerve in 20 (11.04%) patients, posterior tibial nerve in 15 (8.28%) patients and median nerve was involved in 12 (6.62%) patients. Conclusions: The multibacillary patients are more susceptible to neuritis as compared to the paucibacillary patients. The occurence of neuritis is a significant risk factor for disabilities in leprosy. Early diagnosis and treatment is important to reduce the load of infection.