Trend of leprosy in individuals under the age of 15 in Mato Grosso (Brazil), 2001-2013

OBJECTIVE: To identify the historical trend of leprosy epidemiological indicators in individuals under the age of 15 in the state of Mato Grosso. METHODS: Descriptive study with trend analysis of leprosy indicators in individuals under the age of fifteen registered in the Mato Grosso’s System for Notifiable Diseases between 2001 and 2013. We used the Prais-Winsten procedure for analyzing generalized linear regression at a significance level of 5%. We considered as increasing time series when the annual percent change was positive, decreasing when negative and stationary when there was no significant difference between its value and zero. RESULTS: We analyzed 2455 cases of leprosy and the average detection rate in individuals under the age of fifteen was 22.7 per 100 thousand inhabitants. The trend of the general coefficient of incidence was decreasing, with an average annual rate of -5.5% (95%CI -7.5–-3.5). Increasing trend was observed with an increase of 6.7% (95%CI 2.7–10.8) in the proportion of multibacillary cases, 9.4% (95%CI 4.4–14.7) of cases diagnosed with dimorphic clinical form and 14% (95%CI 7.9–20.4) of cases with physical disability level 2 at the time of diagnosis. There was an increasing trend in the average proportion of examined contacts, with a growth of 4.1% (95%CI 1.2–7.1) and average proportion of healing was precarious (39.7%), with stationary trend. CONCLUSIONS: The historical trend of leprosy cases in individuals under the age of fifteen proved to be decreasing in the period, however the trends of epidemiological indicators such as the proportion of multibacillary cases, physical disability level 2 and healing, indicate late diagnosis with stay sources of transmission and consequent worsening of the disease in the state of Mato Grosso.