A Study on Clinical Profile and Disability and Deformity among Newly Diagnosed Leprosy Patients Attending a Tertiary Care Institution

After the widespread leprosy campaign, the prevalence of leprosy cases is coming down that shifts priorities towards finding deformities and disabilities occurring due to leprosy. This study was done to estimate the prevalence of deformity and disability and to study their clinical pattern in newly diagnosed leprosy cases. A cross-sectional study was conducted in the outpatient Department of Dermatology of a Tertiary Care Centre from January 2015 to December 2020. A total of 102 newly diagnosed leprosy patients were included after thorough examination and investigations. Data collected was analyzed, and total deformity found was 75.49% (Grade 1 + Grade 2 deformity). Males were affected more (53.92%) than females (46.08%). The proportion of Grade 2 deformity (G2D) in our study was 27.4% (n=28), including madarosis, trophic ulcer, claw hand, absorption of fingers etc. The most usual form of deformity found was madarosis (10.78%), and most common age group affected was 21-30 years (26.47%). The most common type leprosy-affected was Borderline Tuberculoid (27.45%). 50% of our cases presented at our centre between 6-12 months and 28.43% after 12 months of appearance of symptoms. This delayed reporting and a high proportion of deformities in our study as well as in the programme of this Surendranagar district suggest that for this area it is high time to put effective measures for increasing the efficacy of the existing healthcare system for early diagnosis and treatment of G1D to prevent it from converting into G2D.