Factors associated with non-adherence to polychemotherapy treatment for leprosy.
Johnne Silva da Cruz, Eliane Patricia Lino Pereira Franchi
PMID 41370615WHAT IT FOUND
Leprosy patients who had abandoned treatment were more often still untreated if they did not feel symptoms improve or did not believe the diagnosis.
This small study cannot show cause, but it identifies beliefs and symptom experience as important factors.
Key findings
01Of 88 identified treatment abandonment cases, 40 patients were included in the analysis.
02In multivariate analysis, no improvement in signs and symptoms and having leprosy diagnosis ruled out by another physician or not believing in leprosy were significant factors in continuing without treatment.
03Twenty participants (50%) said another physician ruled out the diagnosis or they did not believe they had leprosy.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only 40 of the 88 identified abandonment cases were included; 43 could not be located, so the sample may miss people who were harder to reach. The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that these factors caused non-adherence. It was done in one city in Brazil, so it may not apply elsewhere. The questionnaire was created by the authors and only pilot tested; no formal validation is reported. The narrative and Table 3 differ on whether diagnosis dismissal or not believing in leprosy was significant in the multivariate model. The final model was built by removing variables from a bivariate screen, so some factors may have been dropped because of small numbers.
Declared interests
No author conflicts of interest or funding statement is reported in the article text; the publication types list non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that correcting beliefs or making symptoms improve will make patients resume treatment. This study was cross-sectional and included only people who had already abandoned treatment, so it cannot show cause.