02412nas a2200325   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001000055653001200065653002200077653001100099653002300110653001200133653002900145653002800174653001500202653002600217653001700243653001700260100001300277700001100290700001200301700001100313245010100324856007300425300001000498490000700508520155700515022001402072       1999                            d  c1999 Dec10aChina10aDapsone10aFollow-Up Studies10aHumans10aLeprostatic Agents10aleprosy10aNational Health Programs10aPopulation Surveillance10aRecurrence10aRetrospective Studies10aRisk Factors10aTime Factors1 aChen X S1 aLi W Z1 aJiang C1 aYe G Y00aStudies on risk of leprosy relapses in China: relapses after treatment with dapsone monotherapy.  uhttp://ijl.ilsl.br/detalhe_artigo.php?id=MzU3&secao=ORIGINAL+ARTICLE  a371-80 v673 a<p>Based upon the data from the Chinese National System for Leprosy Surveillance, this paper reports on the relapses in 297,343 leprosy patients [multibacillary (MB) 106,518, paucibacillary (PB) 190,825] cured by dapsone monotherapy. A total of 11,055 (MB 8675, PB 2380) patients relapsed during an accumulated follow-up period of 4,229,050 patient-years (PY), giving an overall relapse rate of 3.72 per 100 cases or 2.61 per 1000 PY, i.e., 8.14% or 5.91 per 1000 PY over an average follow-up period of 13.8 +/- 8.4 years in MB patients and 1.25% or 0.86 per 1000 PY over an average period of 14.5 +/- 8.9 years in PB patients. For either the overall relapse rate per 100 cases or per 1000 PY, the differences between MB and PB patients were statistically significant, except during 36-40 years of follow up. For both MB and PB patients, the relapse rates showed consistently significant decreases year by year, particularly in PB patients whose relapse rate per 1000 PY was 1.21 in year 10 of follow up; whereas it remained more than 10 per 1000 PY in MB patients. In view of that, the overall relapse rates in MB and PB patients cured by dapsone monotherapy were acceptably low, and most of these patients have been followed up for more than a mean incubation period of observed dapsone relapse. Along with the further extension of follow up, the risk of relapse in dapsone-cured patients will not be expected to increase. This conclusion should be considered when planning policy for the management of patients released from dapsone monotherapy.</p>  a0148-916X