@article{104149,
  keywords = {Vitiligo, Quality of Life, Participation restriction, Psychological Distress, Leprosy diagnosis, India},
  author = {Kesari PK and Kumar S and Sinha R and Kumar R},
  title = {Quality of life, participation restriction, self-esteem and psychological distress in leprosy and vitiligo: a cross-sectional study from Eastern India},
  abstract = {<p><strong>Background</strong></p>

<p>Leprosy and vitiligo are visible chronic skin conditions that can cause substantial psychosocial burden, but direct comparative evidence on quality of life, participation restriction, self-esteem and psychological distress is limited, particularly in the Indian context.</p>

<p><strong>Objectives</strong></p>

<p>This study compares dermatology-specific quality of life, participation restrictions, self-esteem and psychological distress between adults with leprosy and those with vitiligo attending a tertiary-care hospital in Eastern India.</p>

<p><strong>Methods</strong></p>

<p>In this cross-sectional observational study, 111 adult patients (56 leprosy, 55 vitiligo) completed the DLQI, Participation Scale, RSES and GHQ-12. Group differences were examined using independent t-tests, and hierarchical linear regressions assessed associations between diagnosis and psychosocial outcomes, adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical covariates.</p>

<p><strong>Results</strong></p>

<p>Patients with leprosy had significantly worse outcomes across all domains: DLQI (M = 11.04 vs. 5.62, p &lt; 0.001), Participation Scale (M = 28.73 vs. 11.51, p &lt; 0.001), RSES (M = 13.70 vs. 16.84, p &lt; 0.001) and GHQ-12 (M = 19.80 vs. 14.53, p &lt; 0.001). Diagnosis alone explained 35–46% of variance in these outcomes, while adding sociodemographic covariates produced only small, non-significant increments in explained variance.</p>

<p><strong>Conclusions</strong></p>

<p>In this tertiary-care setting in Eastern India, leprosy diagnosis was strongly associated with greater psychosocial burden than vitiligo after adjustment for selected sociodemographic variables.</p>
},
  year = {2026},
  journal = {Leprosy Review},
  volume = {97},
  pages = {1 - 13},
  month = {09/2026},
  publisher = {Lepra},
  issn = {2162-8807},
  url = {https://leprosyreview.org/admin/public/api/lepra/website/getDownload/6ac5edadafaac1539c46cba2},
  doi = {10.47276/lr.97.3.2026037},
  language = {ENG},
}