The study comprehends the patients (n=27,260) of Hansen's disease (leprosy) deceased in the State of S. Paulo, Brazil, from 1931 to 1980. The author studies the time factor as related to some epidemiological characteristics connected with personal aspects such as patient's age and sex, final clinical form of the disease, place of death, time lag between the occurrence of disease and diagnosis, and time span between the occurrence of dissease and death. The time factor as related to the specific mortality and lethality coefficients in Hansen's disease is analyzed by comparison with the proportional mortality data in the State of S. Paulo, with regard to the above mentioned period. Time-related trends in the profile of causes of death among the patients under consideration is also presented. Causes of death are classified according to all the Sections of the Manual of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries and Causes of Death (Ninth Revision-1975) and also according to some of its Categories and Sub-categories classically known as relevant to the pathology of Hansen's disease. In the sub-group containing patients who died from Hansen's disease, the distribution in time of some important personal characteristics such as age, final clinical form of disease, time span between the occurrence of disease and diagnosis, and time span since the beginning of disease till the patient's death are studied. The results found in this sub-group were compared to the ones found in relation to the universe of this study. The results obtained basically show: a) there is a tendency towards the improvement of Public Health patterns in the group studied, parallel to that observed for the State of S. Paulo as a whole, but this tendency is influenced by specific factors, such as sulphonic therapy; b) the existence of two clearly distinct phases in the trends, of the specific mortality curves: i. e., before and after 1950; c) the low socio-economic status of the group studied and its social stygmatization.
Leprosy; Mortality
