The association of haemophilic arthropathy with Health-Related Quality of Life: a post hoc analysis

Background The aim of replacement therapy in haemophilia is to improve Health‐Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) by preventing bleeding and arthropathy. However, the association of arthropathy with HRQoL is unknown. Aim To explore the association of haemophilic arthropathy with HRQoL. Methods A post hoc analysis on patients with severe/moderate haemophilia with SF36 questionnaire (SF36) and X‐rays of ankles, knees and elbows made within 2.5‐years. The SF36 scores of ‘physical functioning’ (SF36‐PF, range 0–100, optimum 100) and Utility (SF6D‐Utility, range 0–1, optimum 1) and radiological Pettersson scores (PS, range 0–78, optimum 0) were calculated. The association of PS with reduced SF6D‐Utility and SF36‐PF ( 21 points, the risk of reduced SF6D‐Utility was stable (OR 4.16; 95% CI: 2.03–8.51) but SF36‐PF continued to decrease: compared to lowest PS, OR for reduced SF36‐PF was 5.69 (95% CI: 1.62–20.06) for PS 22–39 and 25.15 (95% CI: 6.53–96.81) for PS 40–78. Conclusion Health‐Related Quality of Life only showed a significant deterioration in patients with a Pettersson score of >21 points. This suggests that HRQoL is relatively insensitive to early joint changes.