Conditional Cash Transfer Program and Leprosy Incidence: Analysis of 12.9 Million Families From the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort.

Leprosy is a neglected tropical disease predominately affecting poor and marginalized populations. To test the hypothesis that poverty-alleviating policies might be associated with reduced leprosy incidence, we evaluated the association between the Brazilian Bolsa Familia (BFP) conditional cash transfer program and new leprosy case detection using linked records from 12,949,730 families in the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort (2007-2014). After propensity score matching BFP beneficiary to nonbeneficiary families, we used Mantel-Haenszel tests and Poisson regressions to estimate incidence rate ratios for new leprosy case detection and secondary endpoints related to operational classification and leprosy-associated disabilities at diagnosis. Overall, cumulative leprosy incidence was 17.4/100,000 person-years at risk (95% CI: 17.1, 17.7) and markedly higher in "priority" (high-burden) versus "nonpriority" (low-burden) municipalities (22.8/100,000 person-years at risk, 95% confidence interval (CI): 22.2, 23.3, compared with 14.3/100,000 person-years at risk, 95% CI: 14.0, 14.7). After matching, BFP participation was not associated with leprosy incidence overall (incidence rate ratio (IRR)Poisson = 0.97, 95% CI: 0.90, 1.04) but was associated with lower leprosy incidence when restricted to families living in high-burden municipalities (IRRPoisson = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.77, 0.96). In high-burden municipalities, the association was particularly pronounced for paucibacillary cases (IRRPoisson = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.68, 0.98) and cases with leprosy-associated disabilities (IRRPoisson = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.65, 0.97). These findings provide policy-relevant evidence that social policies might contribute to ongoing leprosy control efforts in high-burden communities.

Effect of a conditional cash transfer programme on leprosy treatment adherence and cure in patients from the nationwide 100 Million Brazilian Cohort: a quasi-experimental study.

BACKGROUND: Indirect financial costs and barriers to health-care access might contribute to leprosy treatment non-adherence. We estimated the association of the Brazilian conditional cash transfer programme, the Programa Bolsa Família (PBF), on leprosy treatment adherence and cure in patients in Brazil. METHODS: In this quasi-experimental study, we linked baseline demographic and socioeconomic information for individuals who entered the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort between Jan 1, 2007, and Dec 31, 2014, with the PBF payroll database and the Information System for Notifiable Diseases, which includes nationwide leprosy registries. Individuals were eligible for inclusion if they had a household member older than 15 years and had not received PBF aid or been diagnosed with leprosy before entering the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort; they were excluded if they were partial receivers of PBF benefits, had missing data, or had a monthly per-capita income greater than BRL200 (US$50). Individuals who were PBF beneficiaries before leprosy diagnosis were matched to those who were not beneficiaries through propensity-score matching (1:1) with replacement on the basis of baseline covariates, including sex, age, race or ethnicity, education, work, income, place of residence, and household characteristics. We used logistic regression to assess the average treatment effect on the treated of receipt of PBF benefits on leprosy treatment adherence (six or more multidrug therapy doses for paucibacillary cases or 12 or more doses for multibacillary cases) and cure in individuals of all ages. We stratified our analysis according to operational disease classification (paucibacillary or multibacillary). We also did a subgroup analysis of paediatric leprosy restricted to children aged up to 15 years. FINDINGS: We included 11 456 new leprosy cases, of whom 8750 (76·3%) had received PBF before diagnosis and 2706 (23·6%) had not. Overall, 9508 (83·0%) patients adhered to treatment and 10 077 (88·0%) were cured. After propensity score matching, receiving PBF before diagnosis was associated with adherence to treatment (OR 1·22, 95% CI 1·01-1·48) and cure (1·26, 1·01-1·58). PBF receipt did not significantly improve treatment adherence (1·37, 0·98-1·91) or cure (1·12, 0·75-1·67) in patients with paucibacillary leprosy. For patients with multibacillary disease, PBF beneficiaries had better treatment adherence (1·37, 1·08-1·74) and cure (1·43, 1·09-1·90) than non-beneficiaries. In the propensity score-matched analysis in 2654 children younger than 15 years with leprosy, PBF exposure was not associated with leprosy treatment adherence (1·55, 0·89-2·68) or cure (1·57, 0·83-2·97). INTERPRETATION: Our results suggest that being a beneficiary of the PBF, which facilitates cash transfers and improved access to health care, is associated with greater leprosy multidrug therapy adherence and cure in multibacillary cases. These results are especially relevant for patients with multibacillary disease, who are treated for a longer period and have lower cure rates than those with paucibacillary disease. FUNDING: CONFAP/ESRC/MRC/BBSRC/CNPq/FAPDF-Doenças Negligenciadas, the UK Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior-Brazil (CAPES).