Quality of life in leprosy: a comparative analysis between patients in the Amazon region and patients in Santo André in the ABC region of São Paulo, Brazil

This study analyzed the quality of life of individuals with leprosy and compared quality of life indexes of patients in two different socioeconomic scenarios. The study was conducted at the leprosy clinic of the ABC School of Medicine, São Paulo, Brazil and during visits to the populations living along the Purus River in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. The Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) was used to evaluate the patients. Quality of life was found to be impaired in 76.9 percent of the patients evaluated in the Amazon compared to 19 percent of the patients in Santo André. In the group of patients in the Amazon who had sequelae of the disease, quality of life was impaired.