01906nas a2200181   4500000000100000008004100001260001200042100001200054700001300066700001200079700001200091245009500103856007800198300001400276490000700290520141300297022001401710       2022                            d  c06/20221 aPenna G1 aPontes M1 aNobre M1 aPinto L00aNational Health Survey reveals high percentage of signs and symptoms of leprosy in Brazil.  uhttps://www.scielo.br/j/csc/a/tjMrY4LZTQYDjcmfzNw8dQp/?format=pdf&lang=pt  a2255-22580 v273 a<p>Leprosy is a debilitating, infectious, systemic or localized dermato-neurological disease caused by Mycobacterium lepra. In Brazil, the magnitude and high disabling power keep the disease as a public health problem. Skin spotting and numbness are pathognomonic signs and symptoms in leprosy. The Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) 2019 National Health Survey (PNS-2019) considered the following question as a proxy to estimate its magnitude in the country. "Do you have a spot with numbness or part of the skin with numbness?". In Brazil, 1,921,289 adults reported having a patch or part of the skin with numbness, with no regional differences. As for the age group, the older, the higher the prevalence, for example, between 18 to 29 years old (235,445) and 30 to 39 years old (236,485), 0.7% had the condition, between 40 to 59 years old (827,887), 1.5% and among the elderly, 1.8% (621,472). Being able to estimate, in population-based surveys, with statistical representativeness, a reported morbidity such as leprosy is essential to support the formulation of public policies, notably those related to primary health care actions. In this way, the IBGE fulfills its constitutional role of portraying the reality of the Brazilian population and today it is the main external evaluator of the Unified Health System (SUS) and of public policies developed by the federal level.</p>
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