A new study that assessed several comorbidities associated with hemophilia found that men aged 45 or more years with hemophilia are more likely to experience diabetes, obesity, and mental health problems than the general male population in the United States.
The study, published in Haemophilia, also found these men were less likely to have hypertension, coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, and stroke than the general male population.
“We used registry data collected on males with hemophilia age 45 years and older to calculate lifetime prevalence of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, renal disease, cancer, anxiety, and depression,” the authors explained.
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The participants volunteer to participate in the registry, which collects clinical information including the presence of comorbid conditions at annual visits to hemophilia treatment centers.
Read more about hemophilia comorbidities
The team analyzed comorbidity data on 1592 middle-aged (45-64 years) and 645 older (≥65 years) men with hemophilia who received care in hemophilia treatment centers between December 2013 and March 2021 and compared them with similar data on the general male population in the United States retrieved from the National Health Interview Survey.
The results revealed a higher prevalence of diabetes, anxiety, and depression in men with hemophilia but lower rates of other major chronic diseases than in the general population. Furthermore, middle-aged men with hemophilia had lower rates of leukemia, and older patients had higher rates of obesity.
The authors noted that the results highlight the psychological burden associated with chronic pain and musculoskeletal disease in hemophilia and underscore the need to further monitor and address the high rates of obesity, stress, and depression among these patients.
Reference
Soucie JM, Le B, Dupervil B, Poston JN. Prevalence of comorbid conditions among older males with haemophilia receiving care in haemophilia treatment centers in the United States. Haemophilia. Published online August 4, 2022. doi.10.1111/hae.14647
