Predicting the development of hemophilic arthropathy in patients with hemophilia based on patient age: a retrospective single-center database study
Abstract
Background: Patients with hemophilia (PWH) develop hemophilic arthropathy of the major joints due to recurrent hemarthrosis. This study retrospectively estimated the age at which PWH may expect to develop hemophilic arthropathy and undergo joint replacement surgery.
Research design and methods: Using retrospective data from PWH at a Czech orthopedic center, Kaplan Meier analyses were used to estimate the cumulative proportions of patients with hemophilic arthropathy and undergoing joint replacement surgery as a function of age. Results: Based on 1028 joint examinations in 167 PWH, hemophilic arthropathy of the knees, elbows, ankles and hips was estimated to develop by a median age of 48, 51, 52 and 61 years, respectively, with ALMOST EQUAL TO80% of patients having such damage by ALMOST EQUAL TO70 years of age.
Hemophilic arthropathy of the shoulder occurred much later (median >80 years). In patients undergoing knee or hip replacement surgery, hemophilic arthropathy of the knee and hip occurred at a median age of ALMOST EQUAL TO50 and ALMOST EQUAL TO60 years, respectively, with replacement surgery occurring at a median of ALMOST EQUAL TO70 and >75 years.
Conclusions: In PWH, the risk of developing hemophilic arthropathy accumulates continuously over the patient's lifetime, allowing predictions about the ages at which such damage and joint replacement surgery may occur.