Self-reported clinical history of misdiagnosed leprosy cases in the State of Mato Grosso, Brzil, 2016-2019.

This study aimed to analyze the self-reported clinical history of patients misdiagnosed with leprosy in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil. This is a cross-sectional study of new leprosy cases diagnosed in the State of Mato Grosso from 2016 to 2019, with individuals who were released from multidrug therapy due to misdiagnosis after starting treatment. Data were collected via telephone interviews. Over the study period, 354 leprosy cases were released from treatment due to misdiagnosis, of which 162 (45.8%) could be interviewed. All interviewees expressed dissatisfaction with their treatment, which prompted them to seek a reevaluation of their diagnosis before they were released due to "misdiagnosis". Among them, 35.8% received a final diagnosis of a musculoskeletal or connective tissue disease - mainly fibromyalgia and degenerative changes in the spine - followed by 13.6% with diagnoses of skin and subcutaneous tissue diseases. For 23.5% of the respondents, no alternative diagnosis was established, whereas 7.4% were later re-diagnosed with leprosy. Fibromyalgia and spinal problems were the most common alternative diagnoses for erroneous leprosy. Although the diagnosis of leprosy is usually clinical and does not require access to technical infrastructure in most cases, some more complex situations require diagnostic support via complementary tests, as well as close collaboration between primary care and reference services.

Common mental disorders and associated factors among people with leprosy: cross-sectional analysis in Cuiabá, Brazil, 2018. / Transtornos mentais comuns e fatores associados entre pessoas com hanseníase: análise transversal em Cuiabá, 2018.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the occurrence of common mental disorders (CMDs) and associated factors in people with leprosy with complications in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, in 2018. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study with people attending Júlio Müller University Hospital. The Self-Report-Questionnaire (SRQ-20) was used. Poisson regression analysis was performed to estimate prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). RESULTS: Among 206 people with leprosy, CMDs were found in 70.4% (95%CI 61.10;76.67) and were associated with the female sex (PR=1.29 - 95%CI 1.09;1.53), the 26-45 age range (PR=1.52 - 95%CI 1.09;2.11) and the 46-60 age range (PR=1.40 - 95%CI 1.01;1.95), low family income (PR=1.25 - 95%CI 1.05;1.49), and unsatisfactory quality of life in the physical domain (PR=3.03 - 95%CI 1.12;8.19) and the psychological domain (PR=1.91; 95%CI 1.40;2.61). CONCLUSION: CMDs were frequent and associated with female sex, productive age group, low income and unsatisfactory quality of life. Actions aimed at mental health in this population group are necessary.

Validation of a cross-NTD toolkit for assessment of NTD-related morbidity and disability. A cross-cultural qualitative validation of study instruments in Colombia.

BACKGROUND: Many neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are not fatal, but they are disabling, disfiguring and stigmatizing. More accurate data on these aspects would benefit planning, monitoring and evaluation of interventions, as well as provision of appropriate services for the often life-long consequences. In 2015, a cross-NTD toolkit was developed, consisting of a variety of existing questionnaires to measure morbidity, disability and health-related quality of life. The toolkit covers the domains of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework. These tools have been developed in a source country, however, it was intended for the cross-NTD toolkit to be applicable across NTDs in many countries with different cultures and languages in order to generate universally comparative data. Therefore; the present study aimed to validate several tools of the toolkit among people affected by leprosy or leishmaniasis in the cultural settings of Cartagena and Cúcuta, Colombia. METHODOLOGY: This study aimed to validate the following tools among 55 participants between 18-85 years old, affected by leprosy and leishmaniasis: (I) Clinical Profile, (II) Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ), (III) WHO Quality of Life assessment-abbreviated version (WHOQOL-BREF), and (IV) WHO Quality of Life assessment-Disability (WHOQOL-DIS). The tools were administered during face-to-face interviews and were followed by open questions about the respondents' thoughts on format of the tool and the understanding, relevance and acceptability of the items. The tools were validated using a qualitative method approach based on the framework for cultural equivalence, measured by the cultural, item, semantic and operational equivalences. RESULTS: The Clinical Profile was seen as acceptable and relevant, only the semantic equivalence was not as satisfying and needs a few adaptations. The SRQ was very well understood and shows to reach the equivalences for the population of Colombia without any additional changes. Several items of the WHOQOL-BREF and the WHOQOL-DIS were not well understood and changes are recommended due to semantic difficulties. Operational equivalence of both questionnaires was not as desired in relation to the used response scales. The participants shared that the tools are relevant and important for their particular situation. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The SRQ is found to be a valid tool for Colombia and can be included in the cross-NTD toolkit. The Clinical Profile, WHOQOL-BREF & WHOQOL-DIS need changes and retesting among Colombian people affected by an NTD. The toolkit as a whole is seen as useful to show the effects leprosy and leishmaniasis have on the participants. This cultural validation will contribute to a universally applicable cross-NTD toolkit.

Chinese version of the treatment of autoimmune bullous disease quality of life questionnaire: Reliability and validity.

BACKGROUND: Treatments for autoimmune blistering disease carry significant risks of medical complications and can affect the patient's quality of life. Recently, the Treatment of Autoimmune Bullous Disease Quality of Life questionnaire was developed in Australia. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the Treatment of Autoimmune Bullous Disease Quality of Life questionnaire in Chinese patients with autoimmune blistering diseases. METHODS: The Chinese version of the Treatment of Autoimmune Bullous Disease Quality of Life questionnaire was produced by forward-backward translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the original English version. Autoimmune blistering disease patients recruited in the study self-administered the Chinese Treatment of Autoimmune Bullous Disease Quality of Life questionnaire, the Dermatology Life Quality Index and the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey. Reliability of the Chinese Treatment of Autoimmune Bullous Disease Quality of Life was evaluated using internal consistency and test-retest (days 0 and 7) methods. Validity was analyzed by face, content, construct, convergent and discriminant validity measures. RESULTS: A total of 86 autoimmune blistering disease patients were recruited for the study. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.883 and the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.871. Face and content validities were satisfactory. Convergent validity testing revealed correlation coefficients of 0.664 for the Treatment of Autoimmune Bullous Disease Quality of Life and Dermatology Life Quality Index and -0.577 for the Treatment of Autoimmune Bullous Disease Quality of Life and 36-item Short-Form Health Survey. With respect to discriminant validity, no significant differences were observed in the Treatment of Autoimmune Bullous Disease Quality of Life scores of men and women (t = 0.251, P = 0.802), inpatients and outpatients (t = 0.447, P = 0.656), patients on steroids and steroid-sparing medications (t = 0.672, P = 0.503) and patients with different autoimmune blistering disease subtypes (F = 0.030, P = 0.971). LIMITATIONS: Illiterate patients were excluded from the study. The patients were from a single hospital and most of their conditions were in a relatively stable status. CONCLUSION: The Chinese version of the Treatment of Autoimmune Bullous Disease Quality of Life questionnaire is a reliable and valid instrument to measure treatment burden and to serve as an end point in clinical trials in Chinese autoimmune blistering disease patients.

Response to Dr Stevens' letter ref. Visitisen et al: "Short-term effects of night shift work on breast cancer risk: a cohort study of payroll data".

We thank Dr Richard Stevens for his comments (1) on our recent article that showed no increased risk of breast cancer following recent night shift work when compared with recent day shift work (2). This finding was based on linkage of day-by-day information on working hours and breast cancer incidence data. Results are thus less likely to have been biased by differential misclassification than findings from earlier studies relying on self-report (3). We defined a night shift as ≥3 hours of work between 24:00-05:00 hours and a day shift as ≥3 hours work between 6:00-20:00 hours. This day shift definition did not exclude shifts starting before 05:00 or ending after 24:00 hours. However, this affected only 0.02% and 0.3% of all day shifts, respectively. This diminutive misclassification, that is expected to be non-differential, can hardly explain our negative findings. It is suggested that shifts that begin after 07:00 and end before 18:00 would constitute a more sensible baseline comparison group. Since the biological mechanism is not certain, it is not obvious to us if this will be a more appropriate reference than the present. However, we agree that future studies should test how different definitions of shifts affect the risk of breast cancer, which will be possible using this type of data. We only had information on working hours from 2007 and onwards, and night shift work prior to 2007 could have confounded our analyses towards no effect but only if inversely associated with night shift work in 2007 or later. We find this unlikely. Left truncation could also have biased findings towards the null. We therefore supplemented analyses of the total study population with analyses of the one-third of the population with first recorded employment in 2008 or later (the inception population). Even if the mean age was 35.5 years - and many undoubtedly had been working (with and without night shifts) prior to 2008 - this population should be less affected by such selection bias, but we observed similar risk estimates as for the total study population. Taken together, we find that our study provides rather robust evidence of no short-term breast cancer risk following recent night shift work. It must, however, be stressed that data did not allow assessment of a possible long-term risk. Reference 1. Stevens R. Letter ref. Vitisen et al: "Short-term effects of night shift work on breast cancer risk: a cohort study of payroll data". Scand J Work Environ Health. 2017;43(1):95. http://dx.doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.3607 2. Vistisen HT, Garde AH, Frydenberg M, Christiansen P, Hansen AM, Hansen J, Bonde JP, Kolstad HA. Short-term effects of night shift work on breast cancer risk: A cohort study of payroll data. Scand J Work Environ Health. 2017;43(1):59-67. http://dx.doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.3603. 3. Ijaz S, Verbeek J, Seidler A, Lindbohm ML, Ojajarvi A, Orsini N, Costa G, Neuvonen K. Night-shift work and breast cancer--a systematic review and meta-analysis. Scand J Work Environ Health. 2013 Sep 1;39(5):431-47. http://dx.doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.3371.

Evaluation of the Bifactor Nominal Response Model Analysis of a Health Efficacy Measure.

The bifactor nominal response item response theory (IRT) model, proposed by Cai, Yang and Hansen (2011), provides an extension of Bock's (1972, 1997) unidimensional nominal response model to multidimensional IRT. This model has not been utilized in any published studies since its original development. In this study, the model was applied to data from a sample of college students (N = 799) to evaluate the psychometric properties of a health efficacy measure. The nominal response model has the unique capability to estimate the functioning of each single response category, and higher response categories were found to have better functioning in this study. Poor-functioning categories were identified and combined into their adjacent categories. Items with revised response format showed improved functioning. The bifactor nominal response model is a useful tool for evaluation of bifactor scales with ordered while non-equivalently functioning categories.

Profile of Indian patients with premature canities.

BACKGROUND: Premature canities is a common yet incompletely understood dermatological entity with scarce demographic and clinical data. AIM: Evaluation of the demographic and clinical profile of cases with premature canities and to look for systemic associations. METHODS: Fifty two self-reported cases of premature canities (onset before 20 years of age) and an equal number of healthy controls were recruited from the outpatient department of the Department of Dermatology, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital Delhi, India from November 2011 to March 2013. A detailed history including onset, duration and pattern of involvement, a family history with pedigree charting and scalp examination were recorded on a predesigned proforma. A history of atopy was looked for in all study subjects and they were screened for thyroid disorder and diabetes. RESULTS: The mean age of cases and controls was comparable. The mean age of onset of graying was 11.6 ± 3.6 years. The mean duration at the time of presentation was 39.8 ± 37.2 months. The frontal region was the earliest affected area in 25 (48.1%) cases. Positive family history of premature canities was reported in 39 (75%) cases with an equal prevalence on paternal and maternal sides. More than half of the cases, 29 (55.8%) reported having a first degree relative affected by premature canities, 13 (25%) had a second degree and 20 (38.5%) had a third degree relative affected. Atopy was found to be strongly associated with premature canities with an odds ratio of 3.8. No association with thyroid abnormality or diabetes mellitus was seen. LIMITATION: The study suffered from the limitation of a small sample size. CONCLUSION: It was observed that the process of graying mostly starts in the frontal region. It was also found to be associated with a strong family history and atopic predisposition. Larger studies are recommended to arrive at a definite conclusion.

Qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde avaliada pelo Inventário Pediátrico de Qualidade de Vida 4. 0 em pacientes pediátricos com hanseníase e manifestações musculoesqueléticas / Health-related quality of life evaluated by Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4. 0 in pediatric leprosy patients with musculoskeletal manifestations

RESUMOObjetivo:Avaliar a qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde (QVRS) em pacientes pediátricos com hanseníase.Métodos:Estudo transversal com 47 pacientes com hanseníase e 45 indivíduos saudáveis. A QVRS foi mensurada pelo Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 (PedsQL 4.0) e os domínios físico, emocional, social e escolar foram avaliados. Os pacientes com hanseníase foram classificados pelos critérios de Ridley e Jopling e avaliados de acordo com manifestações clínicas musculoesqueléticas, laboratoriais e exames radiográficos.Resultados:A média de idade atual foi similar em pacientes com hanseníase e controles [12(6-18) vs. 15(5-18) anos, p = 0,384], assim como frequências do sexo feminino (p = 0,835) e classes socioeconômicas brasileiras média/baixa (p = 1,0). De acordo com a autoavaliação da criança relacionada com as atividades escolares, esse domínio foi significativamente menor nos pacientes com hanseníase em relação aos controles de 13-18 anos [75(45-100) vs. 90(45-100), p = 0,021]. Os outros domínios foram semelhantes em ambos os grupos (p > 0,05). Pelo menos uma manifestação musculoesquelética (artralgia, artrite e/ou mialgia) foi observada em 15% dos pacientes com hanseníase e nenhuma nos controles (p = 0,012). Uma comparação mais detalhada entre pacientes com hanseníase mostrou que a mediana do domínio de capacidade física [81,25(50-100) vs. 98,44(50-100), p = 0,036] e de atividades escolares pela autoavaliação da criança [60(50-85) vs. 80(45-100), p = 0,042] era significantemente menor nos pacientes com manifestações musculoesqueléticas em comparação com a dos pacientes sem essas manifestações. (1) Nenhuma diferença foi evidenciada entre os outros parâmetros de QVRS em ambos os grupos relatados pelos pacientes e pais (p > 0,05).Conclusões:Diminuições dos domínios capacidade física e escolar foram observadas em pacientes com hanseníase pediátrica e manifestações musculoesqueléticas.

ABSTRACTObjective:To evaluate the health-related quality of life (HRQL) in pediatric leprosy patients.Methods:A cross-secal study included 47 leprosy patients and 45 healthy subjects. The HRQL was measured by Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 (PedsQL 4.0), and evaluated physical, emotional, social and school domains. The leprosy patients were classified by Ridley and Jopling classification criteria and assessed according to clinical musculoskeletal manifestations, laboratory and radiographic examinations.Results:The median of current age was similar in leprosy patients and controls [12 (6-18) vs. 15 (5-18) years, p = 0.384], likewise the frequencies of female gender (p = 0.835) and middle/lower Brazilian socio-economic classes (p = 1.0). The domain school activities according the child-self report was significantly lower in leprosy patients compared to controls in the age group of 13-18 years [75 (45-100) vs. 90 (45-100), p = 0.021]. The other domains were alike in both groups (p > 0.05). At least one musculoskeletal manifestation (arthralgia, arthritis and/or myalgia) was observed in 15% of leprosy patients and none in controls (p= 0.012). Further comparison between all leprosy patients showed that the median of the physical capacity domain [81.25 (50-100) vs. 98.44 (50-100), p = 0.036] and school activities domain by child-self report [60 (50-85) vs. 80 (45-100), p = 0.042] were significantly lower in patients with musculoskeletal manifestations compared to patients without these manifestations. No differences were evidenced between the other HRQL parameters in both groups, reported by patients and parents (p > 0.05).Conclusions:Reduced physical capacity and school activities domains were observed in pediatric leprosy patients with musculoskeletal manifestations.

Health-related quality of life evaluated by Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 in pediatric leprosy patients with musculoskeletal manifestations.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the health-related quality of life (HRQL) in pediatric leprosy patients. METHODS: A cross-sectional study included 47 leprosy patients and 45 healthy subjects. The HRQL was measured by Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 (PedsQL 4.0), and evaluated physical, emotional, social and school domains. The leprosy patients were classified by Ridley and Jopling classification criteria and assessed according to clinical musculoskeletal manifestations, laboratory and radiographic examinations. RESULTS: The median of current age was similar in leprosy patients and controls [12(6-18) vs. 15(5-18)years, p = 0.384], likewise the frequencies of female gender (p = 0.835) and middle/lower Brazilian socio-economic classes (p = 1.0). The domain school activities according the child-self report was significantly lower in leprosy patients compared to controls in the age group of 13-18 years [75(45-100) vs. 90(45-100), p = 0.021]. The other domains were alike in both groups (p > 0.05). At least one musculoskeletal manifestation (arthralgia, arthritis and/or myalgia) was observed in 15% of leprosy patients and none in controls (p = 0.012). Further comparison between all leprosy patients showed that the median of the physical capacity domain [81.25(50-100) vs. 98.44(50-100), p = 0.036] and school activities domain by child-self report [60(50-85) vs. 80(45-100), p = 0.042] were significantly lower in patients with musculoskeletal manifestations compared to patients without these manifestations. No differences were evidenced between the other HRQL parameters in both groups, reported by patients and parents (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Reduced physical capacity and school activities domains were observed in pediatric leprosy patients with musculoskeletal manifestations.

Foot impairments and limitations in walking activities in people affected by leprosy.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationships between perceived limitations in walking-related daily activities, walking ability (capacity), and the amount of daily walking (performance) in persons affected by leprosy and to identify their determinants. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SUBJECTS: Thirty-nine persons affected by leprosy. METHODS: Perceived limitations were assessed with the World Health Organization Disability Schedule II, domain "getting around". Walking capacity was assessed as covered distance in 6 min. Walking performance was recorded as mean strides/day with the Stepwatch(TM) 3 Activity Monitor. Potential determinants were sensory function, foot deformities, joint mobility, ankle muscle strength and co-morbidity. RESULTS: Perceived limitations in walking-related activities were significantly correlated with walking capacity (r = -0.47; p < 0.01) but not with walking performance, although walking capacity significantly correlated with walking performance (r = 0.38; p < 0.05). Various foot impairments independently contributed to reduced walking capacity and, to a lower degree, to perceived limitations in activities and performance. CONCLUSION: People affected by leprosy perceive limitations in walking-related activities that are determined by a reduced walking ability and the severity of foot impairments. Since perceived limitations in walking-related activities were not related to walking performance, perceived limitations are apparently weighted against the individual's needs.