Recent food shortage is associated with leprosy disease in Bangladesh: a case-control study.
BACKGROUND: Leprosy is remaining prevalent in the poorest areas of the world. Intensive control programmes with multidrug therapy (MDT) reduced the number of registered cases in these areas, but transmission of Mycobacterium leprae continues in most endemic countries. Socio-economic circumstances ar...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:f46555ace47e49c5914027c67806f6ec 2023-05-15T15:13:18+02:00 Recent food shortage is associated with leprosy disease in Bangladesh: a case-control study. Sabiena G Feenstra Quamrun Nahar David Pahan Linda Oskam Jan Hendrik Richardus 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001029 https://doaj.org/article/f46555ace47e49c5914027c67806f6ec EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3091833?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001029 https://doaj.org/article/f46555ace47e49c5914027c67806f6ec PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 5, Iss 5, p e1029 (2011) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2011 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001029 2022-12-31T03:44:35Z BACKGROUND: Leprosy is remaining prevalent in the poorest areas of the world. Intensive control programmes with multidrug therapy (MDT) reduced the number of registered cases in these areas, but transmission of Mycobacterium leprae continues in most endemic countries. Socio-economic circumstances are considered to be a major determinant, but uncertainty exists regarding the association between leprosy and poverty. We assessed the association between different socio-economic factors and the risk of acquiring clinical signs of leprosy. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We performed a case-control study in two leprosy endemic districts in northwest Bangladesh. Using interviews with structured questionnaires we compared the socio-economic circumstances of recently diagnosed leprosy patients with a control population from a random cluster sample in the same area. Logistic regression was used to compare cases and controls for their wealth score as calculated with an asset index and other socio-economic factors. The study included 90 patients and 199 controls. A recent period of food shortage and not poverty per se was identified as the only socio-economic factor significantly associated with clinical manifestation of leprosy disease (OR 1.79 (1.06-3.02); p = 0.030). A decreasing trend in leprosy prevalence with an increasing socio-economic status as measured with an asset index is apparent, but not statistically significant (test for a trend: OR 0.85 (0.71-1.02); p = 0.083). CONCLUSIONS: Recent food shortage is an important poverty related predictor for the clinical manifestation of leprosy disease. Food shortage is seasonal and poverty related in northwest Bangladesh. Targeted nutritional support for high risk groups should be included in leprosy control programmes in endemic areas to reduce risk of disease. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 5 5 e1029 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
spellingShingle |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Sabiena G Feenstra Quamrun Nahar David Pahan Linda Oskam Jan Hendrik Richardus Recent food shortage is associated with leprosy disease in Bangladesh: a case-control study. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
BACKGROUND: Leprosy is remaining prevalent in the poorest areas of the world. Intensive control programmes with multidrug therapy (MDT) reduced the number of registered cases in these areas, but transmission of Mycobacterium leprae continues in most endemic countries. Socio-economic circumstances are considered to be a major determinant, but uncertainty exists regarding the association between leprosy and poverty. We assessed the association between different socio-economic factors and the risk of acquiring clinical signs of leprosy. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We performed a case-control study in two leprosy endemic districts in northwest Bangladesh. Using interviews with structured questionnaires we compared the socio-economic circumstances of recently diagnosed leprosy patients with a control population from a random cluster sample in the same area. Logistic regression was used to compare cases and controls for their wealth score as calculated with an asset index and other socio-economic factors. The study included 90 patients and 199 controls. A recent period of food shortage and not poverty per se was identified as the only socio-economic factor significantly associated with clinical manifestation of leprosy disease (OR 1.79 (1.06-3.02); p = 0.030). A decreasing trend in leprosy prevalence with an increasing socio-economic status as measured with an asset index is apparent, but not statistically significant (test for a trend: OR 0.85 (0.71-1.02); p = 0.083). CONCLUSIONS: Recent food shortage is an important poverty related predictor for the clinical manifestation of leprosy disease. Food shortage is seasonal and poverty related in northwest Bangladesh. Targeted nutritional support for high risk groups should be included in leprosy control programmes in endemic areas to reduce risk of disease. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sabiena G Feenstra Quamrun Nahar David Pahan Linda Oskam Jan Hendrik Richardus |
author_facet |
Sabiena G Feenstra Quamrun Nahar David Pahan Linda Oskam Jan Hendrik Richardus |
author_sort |
Sabiena G Feenstra |
title |
Recent food shortage is associated with leprosy disease in Bangladesh: a case-control study. |
title_short |
Recent food shortage is associated with leprosy disease in Bangladesh: a case-control study. |
title_full |
Recent food shortage is associated with leprosy disease in Bangladesh: a case-control study. |
title_fullStr |
Recent food shortage is associated with leprosy disease in Bangladesh: a case-control study. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Recent food shortage is associated with leprosy disease in Bangladesh: a case-control study. |
title_sort |
recent food shortage is associated with leprosy disease in bangladesh: a case-control study. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001029 https://doaj.org/article/f46555ace47e49c5914027c67806f6ec |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 5, Iss 5, p e1029 (2011) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3091833?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001029 https://doaj.org/article/f46555ace47e49c5914027c67806f6ec |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001029 |
container_title |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
container_volume |
5 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
e1029 |
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1766343873762689024 |