High-risk areas of leprosy in Brazil between 2001-2015.

OBJECTIVES: to identify high-risk areas of leprosy in Brazil from 2001 to 2015.

METHODS: this is an ecological study of spatial analysis based on Brazilian municipalities. Spatial scan statistics were used to identify spatial clustering and measure the relative risk from the annual detection rate of new cases of leprosy. By criterion based on the Gini index, only secondary clusters were considered.

RESULTS: spatial scan statistics detected 26 clusters, in which the detection rate was 59.19 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants, while in the remainder of the country it was 11.76. Large part of the cluster area is located in the Legal Amazon. These groups included only 21.34% of the total population, but 60.40% of the new cases of the disease.

CONCLUSIONS: Leprosy remains concentrated in some areas, showing the need for control programs to intensify actions in these municipalities.