Epidemiological trends and diagnosis delay for Hansen’s disease in Valle del Cauca – Colombia 2016–2021

Objective: The objective of the present study is to describe the epidemiological situation of leprosy during the period 2016–2021, and some aspects related to the delay in diagnosis, in the department of Valle del Cauca-Colombia.

Methods: A descriptive retrospective study was conducted with a population-based quantitative approach, using data from secondary sources of records of the Departmental Health Secretariat, which were examined using SPSS software and analyzed through descriptive statistics, using measures of central tendency and association. The results are presented using tables and frequency graphs.

Results: During the study period, 256 records were analyzed, of which 52.7% were men, and 89.1% resided in urban areas, with an average age of 54 years. The epidemiological classification indicated that 75.8% were multibacillary and 62.9% had no disability at admission. The delay in diagnosis was on average 21.45 months, and 52.34% had a delay greater than 1 year. People treated in private sector clinics had a significantly lower risk of a delayed diagnosis compared to those attedning public sector health entities (OR = 0.5594, p = 0.0221). No statistically significant relationship was found in the bivariate analysis of the other variables studied.

Conclusion: The deficiency in the diagnostic timeliness between the onset of symptoms and treatment of leprosy continues to be a public health problem and merits an inter- and multi-disciplinary approach to reduce this gap.