Cognitive function and activities of daily living in people affected by leprosy: A cross-sectional, population-based, case-control study

Objectives: There has been controversy regarding whether or not people affected by leprosy have more cognitive dysfunction than healthy individuals. The purpose of this study was to assess cognitive functions and activities of daily living (ADL) in people affected by leprosy relative to a control population living in rural areas. Materials and Methods: We assessed cognitive functions and ADL using the Korean Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE), Korean Dementia Screening Questionnaire (KDSQ), and Seoul-Instrumental ADL (S-IADL). Higher scores of K-MMSE and lower scores of both KDSQ and S-IADL are indicative of better functioning. We assessed 224 persons living in Sorokdo who were affected by leprosy and 448 age-and gender-matched control subjects living in Namwon of the Chonbuk province. Results: After adjusting for age, gender, and educational status, the K-MMSE score was found to be significantly higher in people affected by leprosy than in control subjects (23.14 +/- 4.89 vs. 22.25 +/- 4.62, respectively, P = 0.022). Items related to memory in the KDSQ showed no differences between the groups, but people affected by leprosy had a better score in division for other cognitive functions than controls. On items related to ADL in the KDSQ and S-IADL, people affected by leprosy performed significantly worse compared with controls. Conclusions: Our results suggest that although people affected by leprosy have a lower capacity of ADL, they may have better cognitive functions than normal controls.