The quality of life of patients diagnosed with leprosy in a city in Piauí

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the domains of quality of life (QoL) in leprosy patients in a highly endemic city in Piauí. Methods: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional and quantitative study carried out between February and November 2019, evaluating the QoL of patients undergoing treatment for leprosy in a reference center in Picos-PI. For data collection, a sociodemographic form and the SF-36 QOL questionnaire were used, and the information was analyzed using the Statistical Package Software for the Social Sciences, version 20.0. Results: 46 patients participated, and it is possible to observe a predominance of females, aged over 50 years, single, with incomplete primary education and family income of up to one minimum wage. Regarding race, most patients declared themselves black. Among the domains evaluated in the sample, the “Emotional aspect” had the highest mean and the dimension “Mental health” had the lowest mean in relation to their QoL. Conclusion: Most of the dimensions evaluated had good scores, indicating a good QoL in the studied population. However, the dimensions referring to “mental health” and “general health status” had lower scores, suggesting a poor QoL in the latter.