Social deprivation index and leprosy in Pará State, Brazil, in 2013: spatial analysis.

OBJECTIVE: to analyze the ecological association between the condition of social deprivation and leprosy detection rate in Pará State, Brazil.

METHODS: cross-sectional ecological study with data from the Information System for Notifiable Diseases (Sinan); global and local bivariate Moran's factor analysis and autocorrelation were used to identify spatial patterns associated with the distribution of the social deprivation index (SDI) and leprosy detection rate (LDR).

RESULTS: in 2013, 3,358 new cases of leprosy were reported in Pará, with LDR of 41.98 cases/100,000 inhabitants; higher rates were observed in the municipalities of the Araguaia region; 17.5% of the 143 municipalities of the state were considered hyperendemic (LDR>40.00) and 30.8% presented poor SDI; there was spatial autocorrelation between LDR and SDI (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION: there was spatial association between SDI and LDR, with higher leprosy detection in the municipalities with higher social deprivation.