Association Between Body Composition, Neurological Impairment, Functional Capacity, Quality of Life, and Oxidative Stress Biomarkers in Leprosy Patients from Endemic Reference Centers

Objective: To analyze the association between body composition, neurological impairment, functional capacity, quality of life, and oxidative stress biomarkers in leprosy patients from endemic reference centers. Methods: In this observational, cross-sectional, analytical and exploratory study involving leprosy patients, body composition was assessed by electrical bioimpedance, neurological impairment by simplified neurological evaluation, functional limitation by the Screening of Activity Limitation and Safety Awareness scale, quality of life using the Short Form-36 questionnaire and hydrogen peroxide and nitrite levels were quantified using spectrophotometry. Results: Differences were observed in total body fat (p < 0.001), visceral fat (p = 0.003), and muscle mass (p < 0.001). For neurological impairment, a difference was observed between the obesity and overweight groups (p = 0.050). For hydrogen peroxide, differences were observed between the underweight and obesity groups (p = 0.027), the normal weight and obesity groups (p = 0.001), and the overweight and normal weight groups (p = 0.020). For nitrite levels, differences were observed between the normal weight and obesity groups (p = 0.017), the normal weight and overweight groups (p = 0.009), the overweight and underweight groups (p = 0.030), and the obesity and underweight groups (p = 0.036). For hydrogen peroxide and nitrite, positive correlations were observed with body mass index (r = 0.71, p < 0.001; r = 0.75, p < 0.001), total body fat (r = 0.68, p < 0.001; r = 0.70, p < 0.001), and visceral fat (r = 0.58, p = 0.002; r = 0.51, p = 0.007), respectively. Conclusions: In the analyzed sample, body composition was associated with neurological impairment and levels of hydrogen peroxide and nitrite.