{Reference Type}: Clinical Trial
{Title}: Late relapses in leprosy patients in Brazil: 10-year post-trial of uniform multidrug therapy (U-MDT/CT-BR).
{Author}: Penna GO;Pontes MAA;Talhari S;Gonçalves HS;Talhari C;Pessoa AS;Pedroza V;Bührer-Sékula S;Stefani MMA;Penna MLF;
{Journal}: Braz J Infect Dis
{Volume}: 28
{Issue}: 2
{Year}: 2024 Mar-Apr 29
{Factor}: 3.257
{DOI}: 10.1016/j.bjid.2024.103745
{Abstract}: BACKGROUND: Leprosy is a neglected dermato-neurologic, infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae or M. lepromatosis. Leprosy is treatable and curable by multidrug therapy/MDT, consisting of 12 months rifampicin, dapsone and clofazimine for multibacillary/MB patients and for 6 months for paucibacillary/PB patients. The relapse rate is considered a crucial treatment outcome. A randomized Controlled Clinical Trial (U-MDT/CT-BR) conducted from 2007‒2012 compared clinical outcomes in MB patients after 12 months regular MDT/R-MDT and 6 months uniform MDT/U-MDT in two highly endemic Brazilian areas.
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the 10 years relapse rate of MB patients treated with 6 months U-MDT.
METHODS: The statistical analyses treated the data as a case-control study, sampled from the cohort generated for the randomized trial. Analyses estimated univariate odds ratio and applied logistic regression for multivariate analysis, controlling the confounding variables.
RESULTS: The overall relapse rate was 4.08 %: 4.95 % (16 out of 323) in the U-MDT group and 3.10 % (9 out of 290) in the regular/R-MDT group. The difference in relapse proportion between U-MDT and R-MDT groups was 1.85 %, not statistically significant (Odds Ratio = 1.63, 95 % CI 0.71 to 3.74). However, misdiagnosis of relapses, may have introduced bias, underestimating the force of the association represented by the odds ratio.
CONCLUSIONS: The relapse estimate of 10 years follow-up study of the first randomized, controlled study on U-MDT/CT-BR was similar to the R-MDT group, supporting strong evidence that 6 months U-MDT for MB patients is an acceptable option to be adopted by leprosy endemic countries worldwide.
BACKGROUND: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00669643.