Quality of life in leprosy: scoping review

Introduction: Although advances in the treatment and implementation of control strategies have significantly aided in reducing the prevalence of leprosy worldwide, its high incapacitating power still today results in activity limitation, reduced work capacity, social and psychological factors responsible for a significant impact on the quality of life of patients and their families. Objective: map and synthesize the scientific evidence related to the Quality of Life of people with leprosy. Method: it is a scoping review study whose method followed the recommendations of the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). The PCC strategy (Patient, Concept and Context) was used to elaborate the search strategies. The following databases were selected: MEDLINE / PubMed, Cochrane Central, LILACS, Scopus, CINAHL, Web of Science, PsyINFO and Google Scholar. Results: There were 4,453 publications and 55 studies were included. It was observed that QOL investigations of people with leprosy were more frequently published between the years 2015 and 2016, and that the studies analyzed are mostly classified as low evidence (cross-sectional studies). It has been found that interventional studies that include the evaluation of QoL as an outcome are scarce; even with the relevance of quality of life measurement for clinical practice. In addition, we did not find in our sample specific questionnaire records to evaluate the Quality of Life of people with leprosy. Thus, seven different instruments were used to assess the QoL of people with leprosy, six of which were generic and one specific for dermatological diseases; the WHOQoL-Bref (50.9%) was the most used questionnaire followed by SF-36 (21.9%) and DLQI (12.7%). Research on the QoL of children and adolescents with leprosy is scarce, and this is a gap in the identified knowledge. Conclusion: the perception of Quality of Life was altered in most of the studies included in the current review and the physical dimension was frequently the most impaired; characteristics related to the evolution of the disease such as leprosy reactions, disabilities, multibacillary forms, deformities, stigma and pain were pointed as influencers of the Quality of Life evaluation; studies that included patients with early diagnosis reported high scores consistent with low impact on Quality of Life; there is a shortage of studies on the Quality of Life of the population under 15 years of age with leprosy, just as there are few studies that include the evaluation of Quality of Life as a measure of outcome investigated in intervention research.