Abstract
Objective To evaluate a simple and fast diagnostic instrument to be used by any health professional
to track the disability presented by leprosy patients.
Method Validation study of a diagnostic test performed in a sample of 156 leprosy patients
to track functional disability through the shortened disabilities of arm, shoulder,
and hand (QuickDASH) questionnaire. The simplified neurological assessment proposed by the World Health Organization
was used as a reference. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was constructed
to determine the cutoff point of QuickDASH that best discriminated patients with functional
disability caused by leprosy.
Results We identified 86 (55.5%) patients with functional disability by simplified neurological
evaluation. The performance of the QuickDASH instrument showed that, at a cut-off
point of 30 points, the sensitivity and specificity were 72.1% and 68.1% (accuracy
of 70.3%), respectively, to identify functional disability, with a positive predictive
value of 73.8%.
Conclusion The QuickDASH instrument showed good accuracy to track functional disability in leprosy
patients, and it may be useful in clinical practice of primary and general outpatient
care, with the goal of identifying patients who need specialized reference for the
prevention and treatment of this condition.
Keywords
leprosy - biomedical technology - disability evaluation
