Quality of life of people affected with leprosy disability living in Purulia, West Bengal.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the quality of life of people affected with leprosy disability living in Purulia district of West Bengal.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 50people affected with disability associated with leprosy and an equal number of people without disability aged 18 years and above who were reported at Purulia Leprosy Mission Hospital, West Bengal. The World Health Organization quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF) Scale was used to measure quality of life. The scale had four domains; physical health, psychological health, social relationship and environmental health.
Results: Among the total respondents, 51% were male, 60% were between 20 - 40 years of age, 49% were literate, 39 were house wives and 75% of family income was up to 5000 thousand rupees. Disease duration was 1 to 3 yrs in 37%, 3 to 5 years in 34% and more than 5 years in 29%. There was a highly significant difference seen among the leprosy affected persons with disability and without disability in all the four domains. The persons with disability had lower quality of life than the persons without disability.
Conclusion: The study observed that the person affected by leprosy with disability had lower quality of life. Early detection and management would prevent the deformity and thus prevent deterioration in the quality of life of leprosy affected persons.