Visible deformity in childhood leprosy--a 10-year study

Deformity seen in children with leprosy has not often been studied, as the disease itself is less common in children. Deformity, being synonymous with the stigma of leprosy, is a definite social problem in children. In this study we have focused on the burden of deformity in children with leprosy, and various factors responsible for the deformities are discussed. We have observed an incidence of 10.5% of Grade II deformities in children with leprosy, which is very high compared to the community rate of 1.4%. Various factors which contributed significantly to the deformities in our study were: increasing age of children, delay in accessing health care, multiple skin lesions, multibacillary disease, smear positivity, multiple nerve involvement, and reaction at the time of presentation to the hospital. Logistic regression analysis showed that children with thickened nerve trunks had 6.1 times higher risk of developing deformities compared to those who did not have nerve enlargement. Children with the above risk factors should be followed up more frequently so as to detect any deformity as early as possible.