Patterns and Magnitude of Defaulting from Leprosy Treatment in Jimma Health Centre

Abstract

Background: Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease that leads to its physical, psychological and social disabilities due to mutilation and rejection effects. The objective of this study was to assess the pattern and magnitude of defaulting from leprosy treatment

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted during October 1999 and January 2000 in Jimma Health centre to determine the pattern and magnitude of defaulting of leprosy patients from treatment. Records of 304 patients registered in the health centre during the five-year period from September 1993 to August 1998 were reviewed.

Results: Of the 304 registered patients, 201 were included in the study. There were 148 (73.6%) males and 53 (26,3%) females. The male to female sex ratio of the patients was 3:1. The patients were in the age ranges between 1-86 years. The overall defaulting rate was 10.3%. The yearly defaulting rate in this study was found to be 45.9%, 15%, 36,3%, 33.3% and 8.6% from the year 1993 to 1998 respectively. The defaulting rate was higher among male adult patients in the age groups of 15-59 years, patients coming from far places, patients with multi-bacillary disease and newly detected cases. The highest rate of defaulting was between identified in the 3 and 4 months after the start of treatment.

Conclusion: Based on the findings, appropriate health education, regular review of records, systematic registration of patients and tracing of absentees with community involvement are recommended. In addition, further studies should be done to assess the effective duration of treatment and other factors associated with individual patient on defaulting from treatment.