01702nas a2200229   4500000000100000008004100001653002300042653001200065653001900077653001100096100001400107700002200121700001500143700001100158700002200169700001300191245014600204856005100350300001200401490000700413520105200420       2014                            d10aMulti drug therapy10aleprosy10aClinical trial10aBrazil1 aPenna MLF1 aBührer-Sékula S1 aPontes MAA1 aCruz R1 aDe Sa Concalves H1 aPenna GO00aResults from the clinical trial of uniform multidrug therapy for leprosy patients in Brazil (U-MDT/CT-BR): Decrease in bacteriological index.  uhttps://leprosyreview.org/article/85/4/26-2266  a262-2660 v853 a<div dir="ltr">Many believe that the regular treatment for multibacillary (MB) leprosy cases could be shortened. A shorter treatment allowing uniformity in treatment for all cases renders case classification superfluous and therefore simplifies leprosy control.</div>

<div dir="ltr">Objective: To evaluate the association between treatment duration and the trend in bacteriological index (BI) decrease over time among patients given Uniform MDT (UMDT) compared to those given regular MDT (RMDT).</div>

<div dir="ltr">Methods: An open-label randomised clinical trial to compare the present routine treatment with one lasting six month. Patient intake was from March 2007 to February 2012. To evaluate the trend of BI as a function of time, a multilevel linear with mixed effects model was fixed to the two study groups and also four groups after stratification by BI, less than 3 and 3 or more.</div>

<div dir="ltr">Results: The BI fall was higher among those taking RMDT, this difference however was not statistically significant.</div>