Psychiatric morbidity among inmates of leprosy homes

Leprosy affected people are having high psychological distress and it in turn leads to psychiatric disorders. There is a paucity of literature from our country in this significant health problem.

The aim of this study was to find the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity and its association with sociodemographic and clinical factors among the inmates of leprosy homes.

Study sample was obtained from individuals residing in two leprosy homes of malwa belt of Punjab.

In screening stage, the study subjects were administered sociodemographic proforma and general health questionnaire (GHQ-12). In the confirmation stage, the study subjects were interviewed in detail and disability assessment was done using World Health Organization disability scale. Final psychiatric diagnosis was made as per ICD-10 criteria's.

Statistical analysis was performed using the descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, analysis of variance, and correlation analysis.

Majority of the subjects was in the age group 41-50 years, female, married, illiterate, Hindu and were from nuclear families. Nearly, 50.38% of subjects were having GHQ-12 score more than twelve. Nearly, 55.6% subjects were having psychiatric disorders out of which a large number of patients was diagnosed as having dysthymia. The other psychiatric disorders found in the study population were moderate depressive episode, generalized anxiety disorder, mixed anxiety and depressive disorder and schizophrenia unspecified. Psychiatric morbidity was found to be significantly related to age, family status, and duration of leprosy illness and presence of deformities among inmates.

This study highlighted that psychiatric disorders were found in a large number among inmates of leprosy homes. Leprosy eradication program must place specific emphasis on psychiatric care of these patients.