Assessment of quality of life in patients with post kalaazar dermal leishmaniasis

Abstract

BackgroundPost kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) is a dermatological disorder caused by protozoal parasite Leishmania donovani. PKDL cases are thought to be a reservoir of parasites and may increase cases of visceral leishmaniasis. The disease is not life threatening but cosmetic disfigurement associated with it may impair the patients’ quality of life. This study aimed to assess the health related quality of life in patients with post kalaazar dermal leishmanasis for the first time.MethodsA total of 92 PKDL cases and 96 healthy participants filled out the questionnaires. The Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and SF 36 questionnaire were used to assess the quality of life. Data on socio-demographic and clinical features were also collected. The collected data were analyzed by using SPSS software (version 16), Student’s t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied for comparison of means.ResultsPKDL patients experienced very large impact on their quality of life. The mean score of DLQI was 11.41. Highest impact was found in symptoms and feelings and lowest impact was observed for personal relationship domain. Patients below 20 years age group found to have lower quality of life. There was a significant difference in mean DLQI scores with regard to age and severity of lesions (P < 0.05). No significant difference was observed with respect to gender, duration and location of lesions (p > 0.05).ConclusionPKDL significantly impaired the patient’s quality of life. Further studies to assess the impact of treatment on quality of life in these patients are recommended.

The Impact of Leishmaniasis on Mental Health and Psychosocial Well-being: A Systematic Review

“…A total of 14 publications (consisting of 13 full articles and 1 conference proceeding) met all of the inclusion criteria for this systematic review (41,42,51–54,43–50) (S2). All were independent studies, except two (42,43) where one was the baseline study, and the other the follow-up study, and published between 2004 and 2018.…”

“…All were independent studies, except two (42,43) where one was the baseline study, and the other the follow-up study, and published between 2004 and 2018. Three studied VL (42,43,46); 10 studied CL (41,44,45,48,49,51–55) and one PKDL (50) (Table 1). All studies were performed in LMICs (Table 1).…”

“…Three studies were on VL (42,43,46); 10 studied CL (41,44,45,48,49,51–55); and Pal et al, 2017 studied PKDL (50). Of the VL studies, two were about HIV patients co-infected with VL (42,43), which was part of the inclusion criteria for the population.…”

“…Pal et al, 2017 assessed the perceptions, stigma and quality of life in patients with PKDL patients compared to healthy controls using the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) (50). The type and severity of the lesions were also noted.…”

“…Several of the included papers appear to show an association between all forms of leishmaniasis and depression (42,43,46,49,51,52,54). Mechanisms for this are likely to be complex and interwoven as with other NTDs (62) but evidence to date suggests that scarring in CL has an increased association with social and family rejection (44) and anxiety/depression (54) and severe nodular lesions also carry an association with depression (50). The effect may be more severe in younger patients and women/girls although this needs to be investigated further.…”