Cancer and other causes of death among leprosy patients

A follow-up study was done on the mortality from 1956 to 1975 among 2,383 Japanese patients with leprosy who were admitted to a leprosarium in Japan. The leprosy was classified into two types: lepromatous and tuberculoid. Irrespective of the type of leprosy or the sex of leprosy patient, mortalities were increased from tuberculosis, pneumonia and bronchitis, nephritis and nephrosis, and from total causes. The suicide rate was high among female patients. Deaths from total malignant neoplasms were higher than expected among patients with lepromatous leprosy for both sexes (49 observed vs. 44.02 expected), whereas they were lower than expected among patients with tuberculoid leprosy (35 observed vs. 36.83 expected); however, the differences were not statistically significant. Mortalities from cancers of the cervix and the esophagus among females with lepromatous leprosy were significantly higher. The risk of lymphoreticular cancers was not increased.