Courtright P, Kim S H, Lee H S, Lewallen S
British Columbia Centre for Epidemiologic & International Ophthalmology, St Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada.
Lepr Rev. 1997 Dec;68(4):326-30. doi: 10.5935/0305-7518.19970040.
Vision loss and blindness are potential complications of leprosy. There is little data available to indicate the impact of eye complications on life expectancy and quality of life. We sought to determine the relative risk of death in blind leprosy patients compared to nonblind leprosy patients. A population-based ocular survey of 510 mycobacteriologically negative leprosy patients in rural South Korea, conducted in 1988, formed the study population. After a 7-year period patients were traced to determine their status (alive, dead, lost to follow up). Blind patients showed a 4.8-fold risk of death, even after adjusting for other factors, compared to nonblind patients. Young blind leprosy patients had the highest relative risk of death. Excess mortality was not associated with any specific cause of blindness, ocular pathology, or type of disease. Findings from our study suggest that all leprosy patients with ocular disabilities (including those released from antileprosy treatment) should be targeted to receive eye care to prevent vision loss. Particular emphasis should be placed on young patients.
视力丧失和失明是麻风病的潜在并发症。几乎没有数据表明眼部并发症对预期寿命和生活质量的影响。我们试图确定失明麻风病患者与非失明麻风病患者相比的相对死亡风险。1988年在韩国农村对510例细菌学阴性麻风病患者进行了一项基于人群的眼部调查，构成了研究人群。7年后对患者进行追踪以确定他们的状态（存活、死亡、失访）。与非失明患者相比，即使在调整其他因素后，失明患者的死亡风险仍高出4.8倍。年轻的失明麻风病患者的相对死亡风险最高。额外的死亡率与任何特定的失明原因、眼部病理或疾病类型无关。我们的研究结果表明，所有有眼部残疾的麻风病患者（包括那些停止抗麻风病治疗的患者）都应接受眼部护理以预防视力丧失。应特别关注年轻患者。
