02609nas a2200433   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001100055653005400066653003300120653002000153653002300173653002100196653002100217653003100238653002100269653001100290653001200301653002800313653003000341653002300371653003100394653002000425653003100445653001700476653001800493100001600511700002000527700002000547700001600567700001600583245008700599856005100686300001000737490000700747050001700754520139000771022001402161       2012                            d  c2012 Mar10aBrazil10aCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)10aCommunicable Disease Control10aData Collection10aDatabases, Factual10aDisabled Persons10aHealth Personnel10aHealth Planning Guidelines10aHealth Promotion10aHumans10aleprosy10aPopulation Surveillance10aPredictive Value of Tests10aProgram evaluation10aReproducibility of Results10aResearch Design10aSurveys and Questionnaires10aTime Factors10aUnited States1 aFreitas FTM1 aDe Sena Neto SA1 aFaria Grossi MA1 aMacário EM1 aNóbrega AA00aEvaluation of leprosy surveillance system in the Amazon region, Brazil, 2001-2007.  uhttps://leprosyreview.org/article/83/1/05-2063  a52-630 v83  aFREITAS 20123 a<p><b>OBJECTIVES: </b>We evaluated the leprosy surveillance system in the Amazon region, Brazil, 2001-2007, using evaluation guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.</p><p><b>RESULTS: </b>We found that the leprosy surveillance system in the Amazon region is simple, presents good data quality and is representative in describing the sociodemographic profile and clinical classification of cases. The predictive value positive is high and its sensitivity is unknown. The grade two disability artificially increased in 2007 during the transition to a new version of the information system. The cases are reported, receive treatment and are discharged from the system as treatment completion in a timely fashion. Nevertheless, the dermatological and neurological examination introduces complexity to the system, which may account for the irregular data quality related to the evaluation of the disability degree, the system's lack of representativeness to describe mild neurological manifestations and low proportion of household contacts investigated.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS: </b>Despite its limitations, the leprosy surveillance system proved to be useful. Recommendations for its improvement were issued based on the results found. More data on surveillance systems in endemic countries are needed to facilitate valid comparisons between country indicators.</p>  a0305-7518