Adults with newly diagnosed hemophilia may be at a higher risk of developing osteoporotic fractures, according to results from a retrospective study.
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Sheng-Hui Tuan, MD, of Cishan Hospital in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and colleagues conducted a population-based nationwide cohort study that included 75 patients with hemophilia and 300 control subjects without hemophilia matched for age and sex. Data was obtained from a national insurance database in Taiwan from January 2000 to December 2013. The findings were published in Haemophilia.
The primary outcome measured was newly diagnosed osteoporotic fractures, defined as wrist, vertebral, and hip fractures among individuals from both groups. Patients with osteoporotic fractures before hemophilia diagnosis were excluded.
In the analysis, the team calculated hazard ratios and incidence rates of new-onset osteoporotic fractures in both cohorts.
After analysis, the researchers found that the risk of developing new-onset osteoporotic fractures was greater in the hemophilia group versus the comparison group (HR, 5.41; 95% confidence interval, 2.42-12.1; P less than .001).
After adjusting for covariates, such as socioeconomic status, age, sex, and other comorbidities, patients with hemophilia had a 337% higher risk of developing osteoporotic fractures post diagnosis versus matched controls (95% CI, 1.88-10.17; P = .001).
“The risk of osteoporotic fractures following haemophilia increased with time and was significantly higher at 5 years after the diagnosis,” the researchers wrote.
The underlying mechanisms driving these associations remain unknown, according to the authors. Possible risk factors include reduced physical activity, HIV and hepatitis C virus infections, and arthropathy.
The researchers acknowledged that a key limitation of the study was the absence of some relevant clinical information within the database. As a result, information bias could have lowered the accuracy of the analysis.
No funding sources were reported. The authors reported having no conflicts of interest.
SOURCE: Tuan S-H et al. Haemophilia. 2019 Jul 7. doi: 10.1111/hae.13814.