IJCM_287A: A Study on Quality of Life of Leprosy Patients in Bankura in West Bengal

Abstract

Background: By effectively implementing the National Leprosy Elimination Programme (NLEP), India was able to lower the prevalence rate from 57.8/10,000 in 1983 to 0.45/10,000 in 2021–22. Despite its progress, India still accounts for 60% of all new cases recorded globally each year. The stigma associated with leprosy and abnormalities causes worse social functioning, lower self-esteem, and social isolation in even cured patients, which has a severe impact on patient’s quality of life. This study aims to find out the quality of life among leprosy patients. Objective: To find out the quality of life among leprosy patients admitted to the Regional Leprosy Training and Research Institute and Gouripur Leprosy Hospital, Gouripur. Methodology: An institutional-based cross-sectional study in a rural area of Bankura by simple random sampling, was conducted from August 2023 to November 2023 among the leprosy patients and was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of AIIHPH and a face-to-face interview was done by pretested questionnaire, Dermatological quality of life assessed by DLQI tool and data was analysed by Spss. Results: The mean age of 128 study participants was 57.09 ±15.14 years with 60.2% male participants. 25.8% were currently working,40.6% were currently married. Of the participants whose duration of illness was more than 10yrs were71.9%and 66.4% had grade 2 disability. The mean DLQI score was 5.73±3.7, and about half of the patients reported that it had a moderate to large effect on their quality of life, whereas 15 patients (11.7%) reported that it had no effect at all. None of the patients had a very severe impact. Conclusion: Present study reveals that the mean DLQI score was found to be 5.73±3.7 and around half of them have moderate to large effect on their quality of life.