PREVALENCE OF DEMENTIA AMONGST ELDERLY JAPANESE WITH LEPROSY - APPARENT EFFECT OF CHRONIC DRUG-THERAPY

The overall prevalence of dementia in 1,410 Japanese leprosy patients 65 years or over continuously treated with dapsone or closely related drugs was 2.9%. This compares with 4.83% of 621 cases treated intermittently and 6.25% of 1,761 cases untreated for at least 5 years. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed a highly significant increase of dementia with age (p = 0.0001) and, after age adjustment, a significant reduction of dementia in drug-treated compared with drug-free patients (p = 0.017). Such treatment had no significant effect on the prevalence of strokes. These data suggest that dapsone and closely related drugs may have potential use as agents.